Geometry-induced asymmetric diffusion

Details Geometry-induced asymmetric diffusion Geometry-induced asymmetric diffusion

2007-04-28

arxiv.org/abs/0704.3766v2

PNAS 104, 9580-9584 (2007)

Physics

Condensed Matter

Soft Condensed Matter

published with minuscule changes

Scientific paper

10.1073/pnas.0703280104

Past work has shown that ions can pass through a membrane more readily in one direction than the other. We demonstrate here in a model and an experiment that for a mixture of small and large particles such asymmetric diffusion can arise solely from an asymmetry in the geometry of the pores of the membrane. Our deterministic simulation considers a two-dimensional gas of elastic disks of two sizes diffusing through a membrane, and our laboratory experiment examines the diffusion of glass beads of two sizes through a metal membrane. In both experiment and simulation, the membrane is permeable only to the smaller particles, and the asymmetric pores lead to an asymmetry in the diffusion rates of these particles. The presence of even a small percentage of large particles can clog a membrane, preventing passage of the small particles in one direction while permitting free flow of the small particles in the other direction. The purely geometric kinetic constraints may play a role in common biological contexts such as membrane ion channels.

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