Quantum Capacitance Modifies Interionic Interactions in Semiconducting Nanopores

Abstract

Nanopores made with low dimensional semiconducting materials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene slit pores, are used in supercapacitors. In theories and simulations of their operation, it is often assumed that such pores screen ion-ion interactions like metallic pores, i.e. that screening leads to an exponential decay of the interaction potential with ion separation. By introducing a quantum capacitance that accounts for the density of states in the material, we show that ion-ion interactions in carbon nanotubes and graphene slit pores actually decay algebraically with ion separation. This result suggests a new avenue of capacitance optimization based on tuning the electronic structure of a pore: a marked enhancement in capacitance might be achieved by developing nanopores made with metallic materials or bulk semimetallic materials.