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Electronic friction and liquid-flow-induced voltage in nanotubes

B. N. J. Persson·U. Tartaglino·E. Tosatti·H. Ueba
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Abstract

A recent exciting experiment by Ghosh et al. reported that the flow of an ion-containing liquid such as water through bundles of single-walled carbon nanotubes induces a voltage in the nanotubes that grows logarithmically with the flow velocity v0. We propose an explanation for this observation. Assuming that the liquid molecules nearest the nanotube form a 2D solid-like monolayer pinned through the adsorbed ions to the nanotubes, the monolayer sliding will occur by elastic loading followed by local yield (stick-slip). The drifting adsorbed ions produce a voltage in the nanotube through electronic friction against free electrons inside the nanotube. Thermally excited jumps over force-biased barriers, well-known in stick-slip, can explain the logarithmic voltage growth with flow velocity. We estimate the short circuit current and the internal resistance of the nanotube voltage generator.

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B. N. J. Persson, U. Tartaglino, E. Tosatti, H. Ueba. 2004-07-12. Electronic friction and liquid-flow-induced voltage in nanotubes. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.69.235410

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