Transport in one dimensional Coulomb gases: From ion channels to nanopores

TL;DR

This paper investigates charge transport in one-dimensional Coulomb systems like ion channels and nanopores, revealing how the activation barrier depends on salt concentration, channel length, and radius, with implications for understanding biological and synthetic nanopores.

Contribution

It introduces a model for Coulomb interactions in one-dimensional systems, analyzing how geometric and environmental factors influence charge transport activation barriers.

Findings

Activation barrier depends non-trivially on salt concentration.

Channel length and radius significantly affect charge transport.

Model explains experimental behaviors in biological and synthetic nanopores.

Abstract

We consider a class of systems where, due to the large mismatch of dielectric constants, the Coulomb interaction is approximately one-dimensional. Examples include ion channels in lipid membranes and water filled nanopores in silicon or cellulose acetate films. Charge transport across such systems possesses the activation behavior associated with the large electrostatic self-energy of a charge placed inside the channel. We show here that the activation barrier exhibits non-trivial dependence on the salt concentration in the surrounding water solution and on the length and radius of the channel.