Distinctive gating effect of water nanochannel
Fang Haiping’s Group
Mechanical gating under deformation
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127, 7166 (2005)
Electrical gating by charge
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA ?104, 3687 (2007)

Carbon nanotube mimicking a biological water channel

Water flux of the nanochannel changes sharply when the mechanical deformation (left) or the electric field (right) reaches a critical value, hence a distinctive gating property of the nanochannel in a thermal noisy environment, being sensitive to mechanical or charge signals and effectively resistant to noises. The observation is of help for developing SWNT-based nanoscale devices.