Entropic transport: Kinetics, scaling and control mechanisms

TL;DR

This paper investigates how entropic barriers influence particle transport, revealing unique scaling behaviors and control mechanisms that differ from energy barrier systems, with validation through simulations and potential applications in structured environments.

Contribution

It introduces a kinetic framework for entropic transport, highlighting distinctive scaling laws and control strategies for transport in quasi-one-dimensional systems.

Findings

Transport exhibits unique scaling with the work-to-thermal energy ratio.

Simulations confirm the accuracy of the kinetic description.

Entropic effects can be exploited to control transport in complex structures.

Abstract

We show that transport in the presence of entropic barriers exhibits peculiar characteristics which makes it distinctly different from that occurring through energy barriers. The constrained dynamics yields a scaling regime for the particle current and the diffusion coefficient in terms of the ratio between the work done to the particles and available thermal energy. This interesting property, genuine to the entropic nature of the barriers, can be utilized to effectively control transport through quasi one-dimensional structures in which irregularities or tortuosity of the boundaries cause entropic effects. The accuracy of the kinetic description has been corroborated by simulations. Applications to different dynamic situations involving entropic barriers are outlined.