Stretch-activated ionic currents through Ti3C2(OH)2 MXene nanopores

Abstract

Ion transport through nanopores is a major biological signal transduction mechanism that converts various external stimuli into electrical signals. However, despite potential applications in fields such as sensing, versatile functions comparable to those of cell membranes have not yet been achieved in synthetic nanopores. In this study, the possibility of mechanical-to-electrical transduction was explored using two-dimensional MXene nanopores. Molecular dynamics simulations were used to measure the change in ionic currents when applying a mechanical strain. The on/off gating characteristics of current generation above the threshold mechanical strain were found to be expressed by the Boltzmann equation. The effect of mechanical strain on ion transport was analyzed from various perspectives, including the potential of the mean force profile and analysis of pore residence properties. Additionally, this study provided insight into the size exclusion of ions as minute changes in the area of nanopores and ions with marginally different sizes were considered.

Keywords

• MXene
• Two-dimensional membrane
• Nanopore
• Ionic currents
• Molecular dynamics simulations
• Ion channel