2025/05/05 by Coquinot, Baptiste, Lizée, Mathieu, Bocquet, Lydéric +1
#Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.02478
The ionic conductivity of a nanofluidic channel is one of its most basic properties, which is systematically characterized in experiments. While most studies to date have focused on the DC conductivity, there has recently been a surge of interest in the behavior of nanochannels under AC voltages. Here, we show that in nanochannels with electrically conducting walls, electrons can contribute to transporting ionic current through the channel. We identify a critical frequency and lengthscale above which electrons in the channel walls become the main charge carriers, resulting in a strongly increased conductivity. Our findings open the way to the engineering of nanofluidic functionalities based on ion-electron coupling.