Inspired by ion channels in biological cells where the intracellular and extracellular ionic concentrations are typically different, a salt concentration gradient through a charged nanopore is proposed to actively regulate its ion transport and selectivity. Results obtained show that, in addition to the ion current rectification phenomenon, a reversed ion selectivity of the nanopore occurs when the concentration gradient is sufficiently large. In addition, if the directions of the applied concentration gradient and electric field are identical, a reversed magnified electric field occurs near the cathode side of the nanopore. This induced field can be used to enhance the capture rate of biomolecules and is therefore capable of improving the performance of single biomolecule sensing using nanopores.

Inspired by nature, functionalized nanopores with biomimetic structures have attracted growing interests in using them as novel platforms for applications of regulating ion and nanoparticle transport. To improve these emerging applications, we study theoretically for the first time the ion transport and selectivity in short nanopores functionalized with pH tunable, zwitterionic polyelectrolyte (PE) brushes. In addition to background salt ions, the study takes into account the presence of H(+) and OH(-) ions along with the chemistry reactions between functional groups on PE chains and protons. Due to ion concentration polarization, the charge density of PE layers is not homogeneously distributed and depends significantly on the background salt concentration, pH, grafting density of PE chains, and applied voltage bias, thereby resulting in many interesting and unexpected ion transport phenomena in the nanopore. For example, the ion selectivity of the biomimetic nanopore can be regulated from anion-selective (cation-selective) to cation-selective (anion-selective) by diminishing (raising) the solution pH when a sufficiently small grafting density of PE chains, large voltage bias, and low background salt concentration are applied.

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Mimicking biological ion channels capable of pH-regulated ionic transport, synthetic nanopores functionalized with pH-tunable polyelectrolyte (PE) brushes have been considered as versatile tools for active transport control of ions, fluids, and bioparticles on the nanoscale. The ionic current rectification (ICR) phenomenon through a conical nanopore functionalized with PE brushes whose charge highly depends upon the local solution properties (i.e., pH and background salt concentration) is studied theoretically for the first time. The results show that the rectification magnitude, as well as the preferential rectification direction, is sensitive to the pH stimulus. The bulk concentration of the background salt can also significantly influence the charge of the PE brushes and accordingly affect the ICR phenomenon. The obtained results provide an insightful understanding of the pH-regulated ICR and guidelines for designing nanopores functionalized with PE brushes for pH-tunable applications.