Abstract
A theory of transport of long chain polymer molecules through carbon nanotube (CNT) channels is developed using the Fokker-Planck equation and direct molecular dynamics simulations. The mean transport or translocation time is found to depend on the chemical potential energy, the entropy, and the diffusion coefficient. A power law dependence is found, where is the number of monomers in a molecule. For -unit long polyethylene molecules, is estimated to be . The diffusion coefficient of long polymer molecules inside CNTs, like that of short ones, is found to be a few orders of magnitude larger than in ordinary silicate based zeolite systems.
- Received 28 May 2003
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.235901
©2003 American Physical Society