Theoretical study on the massively augmented electro-osmotic water transport in polyelectrolyte brush functionalized...

We demonstrate that functionalizing nanoslits with pH-responsive polyelectrolyte brushes can lead to extremely fast electro-osmotic (EOS) water transport, where the maximum centreline velocity and the volume flow rate can be an order of magnitude larger than these quantities in identically charged brush-free nanochannels for a wide range of system parameters. Such an enhancement is most remarkable given that the brushes have been known to retard the transport by imparting additional drag on the fluid flow. We argue that this enhancement stems from the localization of the charge density of the brush-induced electric double layer (and, hence, the EOS body force) away from the nanochannel wall (or the location of the wall-induced drag force). This ensures a much larger impact of the EOS body force triggering such fast water transport. Finally, the calculated flux values for the present brush-grafted nanochannels are found to be significantly larger than those for a wide range of nanofluidic membranes and channels, suggesting that the brush functionalization can be considered as a mechanism for enabling such superfast nanofluidic transport.