Scaling Behavior of Bipolar Nanopore Rectification with Multivalent Ions

Abstract

We present a scaling behavior of a rectifying bipolar nanopore as a function of the parameter $\xi=R_{\mathrm{P}}/(\lambda z_{\mathrm{if}})$, where $R_{\mathrm{P}}$ is the radius of the pore, $\lambda$ is the characteristic screening length of the electrolyte filling the pore, and $z_{\mathrm{if}}=\sqrt{z_{+}|z_{-}|}$ is a scaling factor that makes scaling work for electrolytes containing multivalent ions ($z_{+}$ and $z_{-}$ are cation and the anion valences). By scaling we mean that the rectification of the pore (defined as the ratio of currents in the forward and reversed biased states) depends on pore radius, concentration, $c$, and ion valences via the parameter $\xi$ implicitly. This feature is based on the fact that rectification depends on the voltage-sensitive appearance of depletion zones that, in turn, depend on the relation of $R_{\mathrm{P}}$ to the rescaled screening length $\lambda z_{\mathrm{if}}$. In this modeling study, we use the Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) theory and a particle simulation method, the Local Equilibrium Monte Carlo (LEMC). The latter can compute ion correlations that are ignored in the mean-field treatment of PNP and that are very important for multivalent ions (we show results for 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, and 2:2 electrolytes). In addition to the $z_{\mathrm{if}}$ factor, we show that one must choose a screening length appropriate to the system, in our case the Debye length for $\lambda$ for PNP and the screening length given by the Mean Spherical Approximation for LEMC.