Search results for "Fixed charge"

Activity coefficients and Donnan coion exclusion in charged membranes with weak-acid fixed charge groups

1998

Abstract We have studied theoretically the effects that the dissociation equilibrium of weak-acid fixed charge groups (e.g. carboxyl groups) exerts on the mean activity coefficients in charged membranes using a Donnan formalism. The model calculations indicate that unless carbon dioxide is excluded from the external aqueous solution, the pH of the membrane solution can be low enough to affect significantly the effective fixed charge concentration and the coion exclusion when the membrane fixed charge concentration is high compared with the external solution salt concentration. Although this problem was already pointed out in previous studies, the possibility that the pH and salt concentrati…

Calcium binding and ionic conduction in single conical nanopores with polyacid chains: model and experiments.

2012

Calcium binding to fixed charge groups confined over nanoscale regions is relevant to ion equilibrium and transport in the ionic channels of the cell membranes and artificial nanopores. We present an experimental and theoretical description of the dissociation equilibrium and transport in a single conical nanopore functionalized with pH-sensitive carboxylic acid groups and phosphonic acid chains. Different phenomena are simultaneously present in this basic problem of physical and biophysical chemistry: (i) the divalent nature of the phosphonic acid groups fixed to the pore walls and the influence of the pH and calcium on the reversible dissociation equilibrium of these groups; (ii) the asym…

Logic gates using nanofluidic diodes based on conical nanopores functionalized with polyprotic acid chains.

2009

Single-track conical nanopores functionalized with polyprotic acid chains have pH-sensitive fixed charge groups and show three levels of conductance that allow integrating several functions on a single nanofluidic diode. Nanometer-scaled pores have previously been employed in separation and sensing but not in logic devices, despite the fact that biological ion channels with pH-dependent fixed charges are known to be responsible for information processing in biophysical structures. As a preliminary application, we propose a logic gate scheme where binary and multivalued logical functions are implemented.

Modeling of the Salt Permeability in Fixed Charge Multilayer Membranes

2000

Effects of a macroscopic fixed charge inhomogeneity on some membrane transport properties

1991

Abstract The effects that a macroscopic fixed charge inhomogeneity exerts on some membrane transport properties have been theoretically analyzed. To this end, we introduce two particular inhomogeneous fixed charge distributions on the basis of previous experimental work, and the transport equations are assumed to be the Nernst-Planck equations. It is found that a macroscopic redistribution of a constant quantity of fixed charge groups can modify the observed transport properties, the two inhomogeneous membranes here considered exhibiting permselectivities different from those of otherwise identical homogeneous membranes. Although the main emphasis of the study is on the basic aspects of tra…