Current Understanding of Water Properties inside Carbon Nanotubes

Universality in the Structure and Dynamics of Water under Lipidic Mesophase Soft Nanoconfinement

Water under soft nanoconfinement features physical and chemical properties fundamentally different from bulk water; yet, the multitude and specificity of confining systems and geometries mask any of its potentially universal traits. Here, we advance in this quest by resorting to lipidic mesophases as an ideal nanoconfinement system, allowing inspecting the behavior of water under systematic changes in the topological and geometrical properties of the confining medium, without altering the chemical nature of the interfaces. By combining Terahertz absorption spectroscopy experiments and molecular dynamics simulations, we unveil the presence of universal laws governing the physics of nanoconfined water, recapitulating the data collected at varying levels of hydration and nanoconfinement topologies. This geometry-independent universality is evidenced by the existence of master curves characterizing both the structure and dynamics of simulated water as a function of the distance from the lipid-water interface. Based on our theoretical findings, we predict a parameter-free law describing the amount of interfacial water against the structural dimension of the system (i.e., the lattice parameter), which captures both the experimental and numerical results within the same curve, without any fitting. Our results offer insight into the fundamental physics of water under soft nanoconfinement and provide a practical tool for accurately estimating the amount of nonbulk water based on structural experimental data.

Do Molecules Tunnel through Nanoporous Graphene?

The molecular transport and quantum tunneling of H2 and H2O molecules through nanoporous graphene is studied using computational modeling and first-principles density functional theory. It is demonstrated that molecules with sufficiently high kinetic energies can tunnel through nanopores. It is also demonstrated that molecules can be trapped in front of a nanopore or behind it. These investigations help us learn the behavior of molecules in and around the nanopores of graphene. They also help us learn the fundamentals of molecular tunneling. We believe nanoporous graphene can play important roles for gas separation and nanofiltration.

"Nano-egg" superstructures of hydrophobic nanocrystals dispersed in water

In this feature article, we use hydrophobic ferrite (Fe3O4) nanocrystal shells filled with Au nanocrystals self-assembled into 3D superlattices and dispersed in water. These superstructures act as nano-heaters. The stability of such superstructures is very high, even for several years, when stored at room temperature. When subjected to an electron beam, the inverted structure of Fe3O4 structures is gradually dissolved due to the formation of hydrated electrons and hydroxyl radicals.

Coordination Behavior of a Confined Ionic Liquid in Carbon Nanotubes from Molecular Dynamics Simulations

To understand the behavior of ionic liquids (ILs) at carbon material, i.e., carbon nanotube (CNT)-containing pores, we simulated different systems and analyzed their structural─in particular their coordination─behavior as well as their velocity distribution. The extension of our analysis tool CONAN presented here allowed us to study the coordination behavior as a function of the distance to the carbon material. Our systems were composed of three different CNTs combined with either the neat IL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate or with their NaBF4 salt mixtures. We investigated the impact of the force field charge scaling. As previously detected, the neat IL assumed radial layers within the confinement, with the radial density distribution depending strongly on the pore size. For the salt mixtures, the sodium cation remained in the bulk and was observed only once inside a tube. In all systems, the ions showed an overall decreased coordination behavior for regions in the bulk phase close to the carbon pore and within the confinement. The coordination number was always reduced with scaled charges. For charge scaling, higher dynamics was observed also in confinement. Interestingly, the average velocity of the atoms near the surface inside the confined space was higher than that in the center of the pore.

Spontaneous Dipole Reorientation in Confined Water and Its Effect on Wetting/Dewetting of Hydrophobic Nanopores

The properties of nanoconfined fluids are important for a broad range of natural and engineering systems. In particular, wetting/dewetting of hydrophobic nanoporous materials is crucial due to their broad applicability for molecular separation and liquid purification; energy storage, conversion, recuperation, and dissipation; for catalysis, chromatography, and so on. In this work, a rapid, orchestrated, and spontaneous dipole reorientation was observed in hydrophobic nanotubes of various pore sizes d (7.9-16.5 Å) via simulations. This phenomenon leads to the fragmentation of water clusters in the narrow nanopores (d = 7.9, 10 Å) and strongly affects dewetting through cluster repulsion. The cavitation in these pores has an electrostatic origin. The dependence of hydrogen-bonded network properties on the tube aperture is obtained and is used to explain wetting (intrusion)-dewetting (extrusion) hysteresis. Computer simulations and experimental data demonstrate that d equals ca. 12.5 Å is a threshold between a nonhysteretic (spring) behavior, where intrusion-extrusion is reversible, and a hysteretic one (shock absorber), where hysteresis is prominent. This work suggests that water clustering and the electrostatic nature of cavitation are important factors that can be effectively exploited for controlling the wetting/dewetting of nanoporous materials.

Enhanced fluidity of water in superhydrophobic nanotubes: estimating viscosity using jump-corrected confined Stokes-Einstein approach

Accurately predicting the viscosity of water confined within nanotubes is vital for various technological applications. Traditional methods have failed in this regard, necessitating a novel approach. We introduced the jump-corrected confined Stokes-Einstein (JCSE) method and now employ the same to estimate the viscosity and diffusion in superhydrophobic nanotubes. Our study covers a temperature range of 230-300 K and considers three nanotube diameters. Results show that water inside superhydrophobic nanotubes exhibits a significantly lower viscosity and higher diffusion than those inside hydrophobic nanotubes. Narrower nanotubes and lower temperatures accentuate these effects. Furthermore, water inside superhydrophobic nanotubes display a lower viscosity than bulk water, with the difference increasing at lower temperatures. This reduction is attributed to weaker water-water interactions caused by a lower water density in the interfacial region. These findings highlight the importance of interfacial water density and its influence on nanotube viscosity, shedding light on nanoscale fluid dynamics and opening avenues for diverse applications.

Uniqueness of Nanoscale Confinement for Fast Water Transport: Effect of Nanotube Diameter and Hydrophobicity

Inspired by the enhanced water permeability of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the transport behavior through nanotubes made of boron nitride (BNNT), silicon carbide (SiC), and silicon nitride (SiN) alongside carbon nanotubes (which have different hydrophobic attributes) considering their implication for reverse osmosis (RO) membranes under different practical environments. According to our findings, not only do CNTs but also other kinds of nanotubes exhibit transition anomalies with increasing diameter. Utilizing the robust two-phase thermodynamic (2PT) methods, the current examinations shed light on thermodynamic origin of favorable water filling of these nanotubes. The results show that regardless of the nanotube material, the filling of water inside small nanopores (d < 10 Å) as well as within pores of diameter larger than 15 Å will always be favored by the entropy of filling. However, the entropic preference for filling nanotubes with a diameter of 10-15 Å depends on the constituent material. In particular, the enhancement in total entropy of confined water was mainly due to the increased rotational freedom of confined water molecules. The thermodynamic origin of water transport was correlated with the structural and fluidic behavior of water inside these nanotubes. The observed data for density, flow, structure correlation functions, water-water coordination, tetrahedral order parameter, hydrogen bonds, and density of states functions quantitatively support the observed entropy behavior. Of critical importance is that the present study demonstrates the effectiveness of RO filtration using nanotubes of boron nitride rather than carbon. Furthermore, it was found that one should avoid the use of silicon nanotubes unless filtration needs to be performed under harsh environments where nanotube of other materials cannot survive. Specifically, the results show that both the structural and dynamic properties of water confined in BNNTs are similar to those of CNT's, and for SiNT it is similar as SiC. Our results show that besides the nanotube material, the chirality index of the nanotube also plays a significant role in determining the structure, dynamics and thermodynamics of confined water molecules.

Characterization of Water Structure and Phase Behavior within Metal-Organic Nanotubes

Water behavior under nanoconfinement varies significantly from that in the bulk but also depends on the nature of the pore walls. Hybrid compound offers the ideal system to explore water behavior in complex materials, so a model metal-organic nanotube (UMONT) material was utilized to explore the behavior of water between 100 and 293 K. Single-crystal X-ray and neutron diffraction revealed the formation of a filled Ice-I arrangement that was previously predicted to only occur under high pressures. 17O NMR spectra suggest that the onset of melting for the water in the UMONT channels occurs at 98 K and the presence of ice-like water up to 293 K, indicating that the complete ice-water transition does not occur before dehydration of the material. Overall, the water behavior differs significantly from hydrophobic single-walled carbon nanotubes indicating precise control over water can be achieved through rational design of hybrid materials.

CONAN─Novel Tool to Create and Analyze Liquids in Confined Space

Modeling of complex liquids at solid surfaces and in confinement is gaining attention due to an increase in computer power and advancement of simulation techniques. Therefore, tools to set up structures and for analysis are needed. In this paper, we present CONAN─a Python code designed to facilitate the study of liquids interacting with solid structures, such as walls or pores. Among other things, the program provides the option to generate a variety of different structures, including carbon walls and nanotubes and their boron nitride analogs, as well as the ability to analyze various structural properties of confined and interfacial liquids. In the case of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate in carbon nanotubes of different sizes, we demonstrate the abilities of our tool. The average density within the confinement highly depends on the carbon nanotube size, and it is generally lower than the density of the bulk liquid. The arrangement of the individual species within the tube also depends on size, with radial layers forming within the tubular confinement. The density is largely increased in the respective layers, while it is drastically reduced between the layers.

Design of Soft Material Surfaces with Rationally Tuned Water Diffusivity

Water structure and dynamics can be key modulators of adsorption, separations, and reactions at soft material interfaces, but systematically tuning water environments in an aqueous, accessible, and functionalizable material platform has been elusive. This work leverages variations in excluded volume to control and measure water diffusivity as a function of position within polymeric micelles using Overhauser dynamic nuclear polarization spectroscopy. Specifically, a versatile materials platform consisting of sequence-defined polypeptoids simultaneously offers a route to controlling the functional group position and a unique opportunity to generate a water diffusivity gradient extending away from the polymer micelle core. These results demonstrate an avenue not only to rationally design the chemical and structural properties of polymer surfaces but also to design and tune the local water dynamics that, in turn, can adjust the local activity for solutes.

Investigation of Dynamic Behavior of Confined Ionic Liquid [BMIM]+[TCM]- in Silica Material SBA-15 Using NMR

The molecular dynamics of 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium tricyanomethanide ionic liquid [BMIM]+[TCM]- confined in SBA-15 mesoporous silica were examined using 1H NMR spin-lattice (T1) relaxation and diffusion measurements. An extensive temperature range (100 K-400 K) was considered in order to study both the liquid and glassy states. The hydrogen dynamics in the two states and the self-diffusion coefficients of the cation [BMIM]+ above the glass transition temperature were extracted from the experimental data. The results were then compared to the corresponding bulk substance. The effects of confinement on the dynamic properties of the ionic liquid clearly manifest themselves in both temperature regimes. In the high-temperature liquid state, the mobility of the confined cations reduces significantly compared to the bulk; interestingly, confinement drives the ionic liquid to the glassy state at a higher temperature Tg than the bulk ionic liquid, whereas an unusual T1 temperature dependence is observed in the high-temperature regime, assigned to the interaction of the ionic liquid with the silica-OH species.

Hydrogen Bond Dynamics and Phase Transitions of Water inside Carbon Nanotubes

Water dynamics in nanochannels are altered by confinement, particularly in small carbon nanotubes (CNTs). However, the mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear. To address these issues, we carried out extensive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the structure and dynamics of water inside CNTs of different sizes (length of 20 nm and diameters vary from 0.8 nm to 5.0 nm) at different temperatures (from 200 K to 420 K). The radial density profile of water inside CNTs shows a single peak near the CNT walls for small nanotubes. For CNTs with larger sizes, water molecules are arranged into coaxial tubular sheets, the number of which increases with the CNT size. Subdiffusive behavior is observed for ultranarrow CNTs with diameters of 0.8 nm and 1 nm. As the size of CNTs increases, Fickian diffusion becomes evident. The hydrogen bond correlation function of water inside CNT decays slower than in bulk water, and the decay rate decreases as we increase the diameter of the CNTs. In large CNTs, the hydrogen bond lifetime of the innermost layer is shorter than the other layers and depends on temperature. Additional analysis of our results reveals that water molecules along the CNT axis show a non-Arrhenius to Arrhenius diffusion crossover. In general, the diffusion transition temperature is higher than that of bulk water, but it depends on the size of the CNT.

Innovative progress in graphene derivative-based composite hybrid membranes for the removal of contaminants in wastewater: A review

Graphene derivatives (graphene oxide) are proved as an innovative carbon materials that are getting more attraction in membrane separation technology because of its unique properties and capability to attain layer-to-layer stacking, existence of high oxygen-based functional groups, and generation of nanochannels that successively enhance the selective pollutants removal performance. The review focused on the recent innovations in the development of graphene derivative-based composite hybrid membranes (GDHMs) for the removal of multiple contaminants from wastewater treatment. To design GDHMs, it was observed that at first GO layers undergo chemical treatments with either different polymers, plasma, or sulfonyl. After that, the chemically treated GO layers were decorated with various active functional materials (either with nanoparticles, magnetite, or nanorods, etc.). By preparing GDHMs, properties such as permeability, porosity, hydrophilicity, water flux, stability, feasibility, mechanical strength, regeneration ability, and antifouling tendency were excessively improved as compared to pristine GO membranes. Different types of novel GDHMs were able to remove toxic dyes (77-100%), heavy metals/ions (66-100%), phenols (40-100%), and pharmaceuticals (74-100%) from wastewater with high efficiency. Some of GDHMs were capable to show dual contaminant removal efficacy and antibacterial activity. In this study, it was observed that the most involved mechanisms for pollutants removal are size exclusion, transport, electrostatic interactions, adsorption, and donnan exclusion. In addition to this, interaction mechanism during membrane separation technology has also been elaborated by density functional theory. At last, in this review the discussion related to challenges, limitations, and future outlook for the applications of GDHMs has also been provided.

High-Efficiency Ion Enrichment inside Ultra-Short Carbon Nanotubes

The ion-enrichment inside carbon nanotubes (CNTs) offers the possibility of applications in water purification, ion batteries, memory devices, supercapacitors, field emission and functional hybrid nanostructures. However, the low filling capacity of CNTs in salt solutions due to end caps and blockages remains a barrier to the practical use of such applications. In this study, we fabricated ultra-short CNTs that were free from end caps and blockages using ball milling and acid pickling. We then compared their ion-enrichment capacity with that of long CNTs. The results showed that the ion-enrichment capacity of ultra-short CNTs was much higher than that of long CNTs. Furthermore, a broad range of ions could be enriched in the ultra-short CNTs including alkali-metal ions (e.g., K⁺), alkaline-earth-metal ions (e.g., Ca²⁺) and heavy-metal ions (e.g., Pb²⁺). The ultra-short CNTs were much more unobstructed than the raw long CNTs, which was due to the increased orifice number per unit mass of CNTs and the decreased difficulty in removing the blockages in the middle section inside the CNTs. Under the hydrated-cation-π interactions, the ultra-short CNTs with few end caps and blockages could highly efficiently enrich ions.

Unlocking the Carbyne-Enriched Nanocoating Sensitivity to Volatile Organic Vapors with Plasma-Driven Deposition onto Bulk Micromachined Silicon Membranes

Due to the unique combination of physicochemical and structural properties of carbyne-enriched nanocoatings, they can be used for the development of high-end electronic devices. We propose using it for the development of sensor platforms based on silicon bulk micromachined membranes that serve as a part of microcapacitors with flexible electrodes, with various sizes and topologies. The carbyne-enriched nanocoating was grown using the ion-assisted pulse-plasma deposition method in the form of 2D-ordered linear-chain carbon with interchain spacing in the range of approximately 4.8–5.03 Å. The main characteristics of the fabricated sensors, such as dynamic range, sensitivity, linearity, response, and recovery times, were measured as a function of the ethanol concentration and compared for the different sizes of the micromembranes and for the different surface states, such as patterned and non-patterned. The obtained results are the first step in the further optimization of these sensor platforms to reach more precise detection of volatile organic compounds for the needs of the healthcare, air monitoring, and other relevant fields of human health.

Interfaces Based on Laser-Structured Arrays of Carbon Nanotubes with Albumin for Electrical Stimulation of Heart Cell Growth

Successful formation of electronic interfaces between living cells and electronic components requires both good cell viability and performance level. This paper presents a technology for the formation of nanostructured arrays of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in biopolymer (albumin) layer for higher biocompatibility. The layer of liquid albumin dispersion was sprayed on synthesized MWCNT arrays by deposition system. These nanostructures were engineered using the nanosecond pulsed laser radiation mapping in the near-IR spectral range (λ = 1064 nm). It was determined that the energy density of 0.015 J/cm² provided a sufficient structuring of MWCNT. The structuring effect occurred during the formation of C–C bonds simultaneously with the formation of a cellular structure of nanotubes in the albumin matrix. It led to a decrease in the nanotube defectiveness, which was observed during the Raman spectroscopy. In addition, laser structuring led to a more than twofold increase in the electrical conductivity of MWCNT arrays with albumin (215.8 ± 10 S/m). Successful electric stimulation of cells on the interfaces with the system based on a culture plate was performed, resulting in the enhanced cell proliferation. Overall, the MWCNT laser-structured arrays with biopolymers might be a promising material for extended biomedical applications.