Adsorption phenomena in particle transport through a fluid-filled nanochannel

摘要

Using molecular dynamics simulations we study the motion of a closely fitting nanometer-size solid sphere in a fluid-filled cylindrical nanochannel at low Reynolds numbers, for a wide range of fluid-solid interactions corresponding to different wetting situations. For fluids that are not completely wetting we observe a novel adsorption phenomenon in which the solid sphere is adsorbed onto the wall, and thereafter executes an intermittent stick-slip motion, while the gap between the sphere and the wall remains smaller than the size of a fluid atom.