Phenomenological theory of a charged polymer molecule in a nanosized gap between two fluidic reservoirs

Abstract

We use a simple Born ion continuum model to analyse the effect of solvation energy change on the translocation of a charged linear polymer molecule through a nanosized vapor gap between two fluid reservoirs. As the effective radius of the discretely spaced charges increases, our model predicts a transition from trapping to diffusion of the molecule in the vapor gap. We discuss the applicability of our model to single-stranded DNA translocations in gaps, suggest experiments to validate our prediction and propose immediate applications of this new trapping mechanism for slowing down DNA motion for electronic DNA sequencing.