Nanofluidics and precision separations

Delivering cutting-edge science to address fundamental research problems relevant to national security

Our research focuses on molecular transport under extreme confinement in sub-100 nanometer (nm) size channels. We also develop new materials and platforms that enable enhanced transport characteristics and precision separation performance for a variety of applications ranging from water purification to ion separations to neuromorphic ionic computing. Additional research capabilities include dynamic nanoscale monitoring of chemical and biological processes on surfaces using high-speed atomic force microscopy.

Research thrust areas

Water in a carbon nanotube.
Water inside a carbon nanotube.

Nanofluidics

Flow-through channels undergo drastic changes when their size and the resulting spatial confinement start to approach molecular dimensions. In these dimensions, ion hydration shells become distorted, water structure becomes important, and solute–surface interactions acquire outsized importance.

We study the transport of water, protons, and ions in this nanofluidic regime. Our goals are to understand these changes, uncovering new physical phenomena that emerge under these conditions and using them to achieve enhanced transport and/or separation efficiencies.

We investigate transport in a variety of nanofluidic platforms, including:

  • Carbon nanotube porins
  • Graphene and boron nitride nanopores
  • Layered 2D material membranes
  • Artificial water channels and de-novo-designed membrane protein pores
Carbon nanotubes deliver anticancer drug to a cancer cell.
Lipid nanoparticles loaded with an anticancer drug deliver cargo to a cancer cell with the help of carbon nanotube porin dimer fusogens.

Biomimetic membrane nanopore transport

Biological nanopores display exquisite control over membrane transport. Our goals are to understand the fundamental principles used by these biological systems and mimic them in synthetic analogs.

Our research focuses on the transport properties of:

  • De-novo-designed membrane nanopores in lipid and peptoid membranes
  • Inorganic nanopores in lipid and peptoid membrane matrices
A vesicle with carbon nanotube porins.
A block copolymer vesicle with carbon nanotube porins embedded in its walls. The vesicle sequesters a large enzyme, horseradish peroxidase.

Rare-earth ion separation

Critical materials provide the building blocks for many modern technologies and are essential to our national security and economic prosperity. We are developing novel methods for the concentration and precision separation of these critical materials, which could improve efficiency and throughput over current industrial technologies.

We are studying rare-earth ion transport in several nanofluidic platforms, including:

  • Layered 2D materials membranes
  • Synthetic inorganic biomimetic nanopores
Ions inside a carbon nanotube.
Potassium ion-water cluster inside a carbon nanotube porin.

Mechanosensitive ion transport

When applied to very small nanopores, mechanical strain can have a strong influence on ion transport. We are developing experimental solutions for studying mechanosensitivive transport in a variety of systems, including:

  • Graphene nanopores
  • Boron nitride nanopores

Researchers

Noy, Alex
Alex Noy
Staff Scientist
Abdullah, Jobaer
Jobaer Abdullah
Li, Yuhao
Yuhao Li
Li, Zhongwu
Zhongwu Li
Saraswat, Mohit
Mohit Saraswat
Wang, Yaqing
Yaqing Wang
Postdoc, Structural biology, Molecular biophysics.
Zhang, Yuliang
Yuliang Zhang

Publications

2023

Fluids and Electrolytes under Confinement in Single-Digit Nanopores
Chem. Rev., 2023
N.R. Aluru, F. Aydin, M.Z. Bazant, D. Blankschtein, A.H. Brozena, J.P. de Souza, M. Elimelech, S. Faucher, J.T. Fourkas, V.B. Koman, M. Kuehne, H.J. Kulik, H.-K. Li, Y. Li, Z. Li, A. Majumdar, J. Martis, R. Prasanna Misra, A. Noy, T.A. Pham, H. Qu, A. Rayabharam, M.A. Reed, C.L. Ritt, E. Schwegler, Z. Siwy, M.S. Strano, Y. Wang, Y.-C. Yao, C. Zhan, and Z. Zhang

Nanofluidic computing makes a splash
Science, 2023
A. Noy and S.B. Darling

2022

Breakdown of the Nernst–Einstein relation in carbon nanotube porins
Nature Nanotechnology, 2022
Z. Li, R.P. Misra, Y. Li, Y.C. Yao, S. Zhao, Y. Zhang, Y. Chen, D. Blankschtein, A. Noy

Prior

Membrane fusion and drug delivery with carbon nanotube porins
PNAS, 2021
N.T. Ho, M. Siggel, K.V. Camacho, R.M. Bhaskara, J.M. Hicks, Y.-C. Yao, Y. Zhang, J. Köfinger, G. Hummer, and A. Noy

Let go of your data
Nature Materials, 2020
N. Noy and A. Noy

Water-ion permselectivity of narrow-diameter carbon nanotubes
Science Advances, 2020
Y. Li, Z. LI, F. Aydin, J. Quan, X. Chen, Y.C. Yao, C. Zhan, Y. Chen, T.A. Pham, and A. Noy

Enhanced water permeability and tunable ion selectivity in subnanometer carbon nanotube porins
Science, 2017
R.H. Tunuguntla, R.Y. Henley, Y.-C. Yao, T.A. Pham, A. Noy

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