Single-file transport of binary hard-sphere mixtures through periodic potentials

Single-file transport occurs in various scientific fields, including diffusion through nanopores, nanofluidic devices, and cellular processes. We here investigate the impact of polydispersity on particle currents for single-file Brownian motion of hard spheres when they are driven through periodic potentials by a constant drag force. Through theoretical analysis and extensive Brownian dynamics simulations, we unveil the behavior of particle currents for random binary mixtures. The particle currents show a recurring pattern in dependence of the hard-sphere diameters and mixing ratio. We explain this recurrent behavior by showing that a basic unit cell exists in the space of the two hard-sphere diameters. Once the behavior of an observable inside the unit cell is determined, it can be inferred for any diameter. The overall variation of particle currents with the mixing ratio and hard-sphere diameters is reflected by their variation in the limit where the system is fully covered by hard spheres. In this limit, the currents can be predicted analytically. Our analysis explains the occurrence of pronounced maxima and minima of the currents by changes in the effective potential barrier for the center-of-mass motion.