Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 106, Issue 43, Pages 18120-18124Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0902676106
Keywords
confined water; molecular dynamics; molecular signal transmission; Y-shaped nanochannel; signal transduction
Categories
Funding
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [10674146, 10825520]
- National Basic Research Program of China [2007CB936000, 2006CB933000]
- Shanghai Supercomputer Center of China
- IBM
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Molecular scale signal conversion and multiplication is of particular importance in many physical and biological applications, such as molecular switches, nano-gates, biosensors, and various neural systems. Unfortunately, little is currently known regarding the signal processing at the molecular level, partly due to the significant noises arising from the thermal fluctuations and interferences between branch signals. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations to show that a signal at the single-electron level can be converted and multiplied into 2 or more signals by water chains confined in a narrow Y-shaped nanochannel. This remarkable transduction capability of molecular signal by Y-shaped nanochannel is found to be attributable to the surprisingly strong dipole-induced ordering of such water chains, such that the concerted water orientations in the 2 branches of the Y-shaped nanotubes can be modulated by the water orientation in the main channel. The response to the switching of the charge signal is very rapid, from a few nanoseconds to a few hundred nanoseconds. Furthermore, simulations with various water models, including TIP3P, TIP4P, and SPC/E, show that the transduction capability of the Y-shaped carbon nanotubes is very robust at room temperature, with the interference between branch signals negligible.
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