When confined to channels that are just one to a few atoms wide, water and ions behave in ways that defy classical expectations. At the angstrom scale, flows can accelerate, molecular organization changes, and ion transport can be selectively tuned. Those behaviors can open new frontiers in ionic memory, nanofluidic computing, and molecular-scale sensing.

In this webinar, we will showcase angstrom-scale channels fabricated from 2D materials such as graphite, molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). We will explain how design rules for ion selectivity enable precise control over ion transport. Those principles are applied to modulate water transport at the atomic scale and to create ionic memory devices in which ion flows encode and store information.

We will highlight experimental strategies, such as atomic-scale channel fabrication and ionic and water flow measurements that reveal the intricate interplay between molecules, ions, and channel walls.

This webinar will offer insight into the fundamental physics of extreme confinement, and guidance for the design of next generation nanofluidic devices. It is aimed at physicists, chemists, materials scientists, and engineers eager to explore the surprising and exploitable behaviors of matter at the smallest scales.

Learnings outcomes:

• Mastering ion selectivity at the atomic scale: How steric (size-based) and beyond-steric mechanisms can be engineered to control ion transport in angstrom-scale channels.
• Ionic memory in nanofluidic devices: How controlled ion flows can encode, store, and manipulate information at the nanoscale.
• Water and molecular behavior under extreme confinement: Insights into unexpected flow rates, ordering, and dynamics of fluids in atomic-scale channels.
• Probing and harnessing confined systems: Techniques for fabricating angstrom-scale channels and measuring coupled ionic, molecular, and electronic phenomena.

Who should attend:

• Physicists (condensed matter, soft matter, nanophysics)
• Chemists (physical, materials, analytical)
• Materials scientists and engineers
• Nanofluidics researchers
• Researchers working on electrochemistry at the nanoscale
• Researchers in osmotic energy and membranes for water desalination
• Computational scientists (molecular modeling, simulations) working on molecular dynamics in confinement
• Graduate students and postdocs in related fields

About the Physics Today Editor’s Series:

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