Reinforcing a water bridge in a disjoint nanochannel

Abstract

Understanding and controlling water molecules confined in water channels has great applications. Many artificial water channels have been designed to mimic water permeation across water channels. One kind of artificial water channels, which contains two disjoint carbon nanotubes that are not physically connected has attracted much attention. Water transfers through the disjoint nanochannel by a water bridge. However, the water bridge is affected by the nanogap between two disjoint carbon nanotubes. Here, we firstly report on the possibility of reinforcing a water bridge in a disjoint nanochannel by molecular dynamics simulations and find that the length of the nanogap, the electric field strength, the direction of the electric field and the effective pressure within water have an effect on the formation of a water bridge in the disjoint nanochannel. The analysis of the Lennard-Jones potential and the potential of mean force helps to reveal the mechanism. Our findings are beneficial for designing nanodevices with disjoint nanostructures and understanding the effects of the nanogap on the behaviors of water molecules in the disjoint nanochannel.