We study the thermophoretic motion of water nanodroplets confined inside carbon nanotubes using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the nanodroplets move in the direction opposite the imposed thermal gradient with a terminal velocity that is linearly proportional to the gradient. The translational motion is associated with a solid body rotation of the water nanodroplet coinciding with the helical symmetry of the carbon nanotube. The thermal diffusion displays a weak dependence on the wetting of the water-carbon nanotube interface. We introduce the use of the moment scaling spectrum (MSS) in order to determine the characteristics of the motion of the nanoparticles inside the carbon nanotube. The MSS indicates that affinity of the nanodroplet with the walls of the carbon nanotubes is important for the isothermal diffusion and hence for the Soret coefficient of the system.

Molecular dynamics simulations are conducted to investigate the initial stages of spontaneous imbibition of water in slit silica nanochannels surrounded by air. An analysis is performed for the effects of nanoscopic confinement, initial conditions of liquid uptake and air pressurization on the dynamics of capillary filling. The results indicate that the nanoscale imbibition process is divided into three main flow regimes: an initial regime where the capillary force is balanced only by the inertial drag and characterized by a constant velocity and a plug flow profile. In this regime, the meniscus formation process plays a central role in the imbibition rate. Thereafter, a transitional regime takes place, in which, the force balance has significant contributions from both inertia and viscous friction. Subsequently, a regime wherein viscous forces dominate the capillary force balance is attained. Flow velocity profiles identify the passage from an inviscid flow to a developing Poiseuille flow. Gas density profiles ahead of the capillary front indicate a transient accumulation of air on the advancing meniscus. Furthermore, slower capillary filling rates computed for higher air pressures reveal a significant retarding effect of the gas displaced by the advancing meniscus.

Graphene has attracted considerable attention due to its characteristics as a 2D material and its fascinating properties, providing a potential building block for nanofabrication. In nanochannels the solid-liquid interface plays a non-negligible role in determining the fluid dynamics. Therefore, for an optimal design of nanofluidic devices, a comprehensive understanding of the slippage in a water flow confined between graphene walls is important. In nanoconfinement, experimental and computational studies have found the slip length to increase nonlinearly when the shear rate is larger than a critical value. Here, by conducting molecular dynamics simulations, we study the influence of the graphene crystallographic orientation on the slip boundary conditions inside a nanoslit channel. The flow in channels with heights of 2.0, 2.4 and 2.8 nm is driven parallel to the zig-zag and arm-chair crystallographic directions. We extract flow rates, velocity profiles, slip velocities and slip lengths. The slip velocity displays a linear relationship to the shear stress up to a critical value, which is not size dependent. Moreover, the slip length is found to be shear stress dependent above a critical shear stress value of 0.4 MPa. Furthermore, our results indicate that after this critical shear stress is reached, the flow rates are significantly influenced (up to 10%) by the particular orientation of the graphene topology.

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Thermal Brownian motors (TBMs) are nanoscale machines that exploit thermal fluctuations to provide useful work. We introduce a TBM-based nanopump which enables continuous water flow through a carbon nanotube (CNT) by imposing an axial thermal gradient along its surface. We impose spatial asymmetry along the CNT by immobilizing certain points on its surface. We study the performance of this molecular motor using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. From the MD trajectories, we compute the net water flow and the induced velocity profiles for various imposed thermal gradients. We find that spatial asymmetry modifies the vibrational modes of the CNT induced by the thermal gradient, resulting in a net water flow against the thermal gradient. Moreover, the kinetic energy associated with the thermal oscillations rectifies the Brownian motion of the water molecules, driving the flow in a preferred direction. For imposed thermal gradients of 0.5-3.3 K/nm, we observe continuous net flow with average velocities up to 5 m/s inside CNTs with diameters of 0.94, 1.4, and 2.0 nm. The results indicate that the CNT-based asymmetric thermal motor can provide a controllable and robust system for delivery of continuous water flow with potential applications in integrated nanofluidic devices.

We conduct molecular dynamics simulations of a molecular linear motor consisting of coaxial carbon nanotubes with a long outer carbon nanotube confining and guiding the motion of an inner short, capsulelike nanotube. The simulations indicate that the motion of the capsule can be controlled by thermophoretic forces induced by thermal gradients. The simulations find large terminal velocities of 100–400 nm/ns for imposed thermal gradients in the range of 1–3 K/nm. Moreover, the results indicate that the thermophoretic force is velocity dependent and its magnitude decreases for increasing velocity.

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Thermophoresis is the phenomenon wherein particles experience a net drift induced by a thermal gradient. In this work, molecular dynamics simulations are conducted to study with atomistic detail the thermophoresis of water nanodroplets inside carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and its interplay with the retarding liquid-solid friction. Different applied temperatures, thermal gradients, and droplet sizes are used to reveal the dynamics of the two kinetic regimes of the thermophoretic motion in CNTs. The results indicate that during the droplet motion, the thermophoretic force is independent of the velocity of the droplet, whereas the magnitude of the retarding friction force exhibits a linear dependence. In fact, in the initial regime the magnitude of the friction force increases linearly with the droplet velocity, until the thermophoretic force is balanced by the friction force as the droplet reaches its terminal velocity in the final regime. In addition, an increase in the magnitude of the thermophoretic force is found for longer water droplets. These findings provide a deeper understanding of liquid transport driven by temperature gradients in nanoconfined geometries where liquid-solid interfaces govern fluidics.