Length-dependent translocation of polymers through nanochannels

Ledesma-Aguilar, Rodrigo, Sakaue, Takahiro and Yeomans, Julia (2012) Length-dependent translocation of polymers through nanochannels. Soft Matter, 8 (6). pp. 1884-1892. ISSN 1744-683X

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Abstract

We consider the flow-driven translocation of single polymer chains through nanochannels. Using analytical calculations based on the de Gennes blob model and mesoscopic numerical simulations, we estimate the threshold flux for the translocation of chains of different number of monomers. The translocation of the chains is controlled by the competition between entropic and hydrodynamic effects, which set a critical penetration length for the chain before it can translocate through the channel. We demonstrate that the polymers show two different translocation regimes depending on how their length under confinement compares to the critical penetration length. For polymer chains longer than the threshold, the translocation process is insensitive to the number of monomers in the chain as predicted in Sakaue et al., Euro. Phys. Lett., 2005, 72, 83. However, for chains shorter than the critical length we show that the translocation process is strongly dependent on the length of the chain. We discuss the possible relevance of our results to biological transport.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	F200 Materials Science F300 Physics
Department:	Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering
Related URLs:	http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.5423
Depositing User:	Ellen Cole
Date Deposited:	16 Dec 2013 12:49
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 19:07
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/14828

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