Abstract
Electrically driven ionic transport of room-temperature ionic liquids
(RTILs) through nanopores is studied using atomistic simulations. The results show
that in nanopores wetted by RTILs a gradual dewetting transition occurs upon increasing
the applied voltage, which is accompanied by a sharp increase in ionic current. These
phenomena originate from the solvent-free nature of RTILs and are in stark contrast with
the transport of conventional electrolytes through nanopores. Amplification is possible by
controlling the properties of the nanopore and RTILs, and we show that it is especially
pronounced in charged nanopores. The results highlight the unique physics of
nonequilibrium transport of RTILs in confined geometries and point to potential
experimental approaches for manipulating ionic transport in nanopores, which can benefit
diverse techniques including nanofluidic circuitry and nanopore analytics.
