Related papers: Ratchet based ion pumps for selective ion separati…
The selective separation of same-charge ions is a longstanding challenge in resource recovery, battery recycling, and water treatment. Theoretical studies have shown that ratchet-based ion pumps (RBIPs) can separate ions with the same…
Directed ion transport in liquid electrolyte solutions underlies many phenomena in Nature and industry. While Nature has devised structures that drive continuous ion flow without Faradaic redox reactions, artificial analogs do not exist.…
In recent years there has been significant progress in the development of artificial ion pumping membranes. Ion pumps based on asymmetric nano-pores have been shown to operate as ionic current rectifiers, thus pumping a net ion flux against…
We theoretically predict and experimentally demonstrate that several different particle species can be separated from each other by means of a ratchet device, consisting of periodically arranged triangular (ratchet) shaped obstacles. We…
Electrochemical reactions are highly sensitive to the physical and chemical environment near the electrodes. Thus, controlling the electrolyte ionic composition and the electrochemical potential of specific ions can modify the overpotential…
To overcome the traditional paradigm of filtration, where separation is essentially performed upon steric sieving principles, we explore the concept of dynamic osmosis through active membranes. A partially permeable membrane presents a…
Here we study a pumping device capable of maintaining a density gradient and a flux of particles across a membrane. Its driving mechanism is based on the flashing ratchet effect powered by the random telegraph process in the presence of…
The ability to separate large volumes of mixed species based on atomic mass appears desirable for a variety of emerging applications with high societal impact. One possibility to meet this objective consists in leveraging mass differential…
Thermal ratchets can extract useful work from random fluctuations. This is common in the molecular scale, such as motor proteins, and has also been used to achieve directional transport in microfluidic devices. In this work, we use the…
A first-principles approach for calculating ion separation in solution through two-dimensional (2D) membranes is proposed and applied. Ionic energy profiles across the membrane are obtained first, where solvation effects are simulated…
Controlled long-range transport of micro- and nano-scale objects is a key requirement in lab-on-a-chip and microfluidic applications, enabling the efficient capture, concentration, manipulation, and detection of analytes. Traditional…
High-throughput plasma separation based on atomic mass holds the promise for offering unique solutions to a variety of high-impact societal applications. Through the mass differential effects they exhibit, crossed-field configurations can…
An argon-xenon (Ar/Xe) plasma is used as a model system for complex plasmas. Based on this system, symmetric low-pressure capacitively coupled radio-frequency discharges are examined utilizing Particle-In-Cell/Monte Carlo Collisions…
Self-propelled nanoparticles moving through liquids offer the possibility of creating advanced applications where such nanoswimmers can operate as artificial molecular-sized motors. Achieving control over the motion of nanoswimmers is a…
A novel technique to identify small fluxes of mixed highly charged ion beams extracted from an Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) is presented and practically demonstrated. The method exploits projectile charge state dependent potential emission…
Directional transport-dominated particle separation presents major challenges in many technological applications. The Feynman ratchet can convert the random perturbation into directional transport of particles, offering innovative…
Ionic liquid ion sources are a promising technology that can be used for many applications from space propulsion to focused ion beam microetching. Ionic liquid ion sources produce ion beams by extracting single ions and metastable solvated…
The realization of a directed current for a quantum particle in a flashing asymmetric potential is studied. It is found that a positive current, i.e. in the direction expected for a conventional diffusive ratchet, can be attained at short…
Understanding surface-driven transport is of paramount importance from the perspective of biological applications and the synthesis of microfluidic devices. In this work, we develop an analysis of a local inversion symmetry broken fluid…
In some types of mass spectrometers, such as Time of Flight mass spectrometers (TOF-MSs), it is necessary to control pulsed beams of ions. This can be easily accomplished by applying a pulsed voltage to the pusher electrode while the…