Theory of transport of long polymer molecules through carbon nanotube channels

A theory of transport of long chain polymer molecules through carbon nanotube (CNT) channels is developed using the Fokker-Planck equation and direct molecular dynamics simulations. The mean transport or translocation time tau is found to depend on the chemical potential energy, the entropy, and the diffusion coefficient. A power law dependence tau approximately N2 is found, where N is the number of monomers in a molecule. For 10(5)-unit long polyethylene molecules, tau is estimated to be approximately 1 micros. The diffusion coefficient of long polymer molecules inside CNTs, like that of short ones, is found to be a few orders of magnitude larger than in ordinary silicate based zeolite systems.