Electroosmosis in Conducting Nanofluidic Channels

Theoretical modeling of electroosmosis through conducting (ideallypolarizable) nanochannels is reported. Based on the theory of induced chargeelectrokinetics, a novel nanofluidic system which possesses both adjustable ionselective characteristics and flexible flow control is proposed. Suchnanofluidic devices operate only with very low gate control voltage applied onthe conductive walls of nanochannels, and thus even can be energized by normalbatteries. We believe that it is possible to use such metal-electrolyteconfigurations to overcome the difficulties met with conventionalmetal-isolator-electrolyte systems for nanofluidic applications.