Atomistic approach to analyse transportation of water nanodroplet through a vibrating nanochannel: scope in bio-NEMS applications

Abstract

Vibrating nanochannels are gaining interest in the fields of bio nano electromechanical systems (bio-NEMS) owing to their acoustic streaming ability (as a tail of nano-swimmers) and drug transportation mechanism. However, it is challenging to articulate such a mechanism experimentally. In this paper, molecular dynamic simulations are carried out to study the effect of the wall vibrations on the forced transportation of a water nanodroplet through a vibrating nanochannel. Here, the motion of water molecules was governed by modified Lennard–Jones (LJ) potential with an initial hydrophobic solid–liquid interface between the walls of nanochannel and water molecules. The density distribution of water molecules was spread towards the nanochannel walls for high vibration (2 (Å) amplitude and 60 GHz frequencies). The average resistance force increased 95.2% for high configuration wall vibrations, showing an increase of 13.96 pN, compared to 7.15 pN for low configuration wall vibrations (0.5 (Å) amplitude and 15 GHz frequency). This work may have significant implications for the application in the fields such as targeted drug delivery, enhanced oil recovery, nanofluidics and inkjet printing.