Breakdown of fast water transport in graphene oxides

Fast slip flow was identified for water inside the interlayer gallery between graphene layers or carbon nanotubes. We report here that this significant flow rate enhancement (over two orders) breaks down with the presence of chemical functionalization and relaxation of nanoconfinement in graphene oxides. Molecular dynamics simulation results show that hydrodynamics applies in this circumstance, even at length scales down to nanometers. However, corrections to the slip boundary condition and apparent viscosity of nanoconfined flow must be included to make quantitative predictions. These results were discussed with the structural characteristics of liquid water and hydrogen-bond networks.