Gating in model nanopores

The phenomenon of hydrophobic gating hinges on certain features such as extreme confinement, chemical nature of the substrates, favourable thermodynamical conditions and presence of external factors that are quite universal and shared between biological ion-channels and certain classes of artificial nanopores. Owing to these peculiar features, it is quite interesting to devote effort into understading the role of such factors in a more general context that tries to mimic some of the characteristics of biological pores, while considerably simplifying the picture. This is done in order to gather detailed qualitative and quantitiative information on the effects of the various parameters, while still appreciating the atomistic complexity of the nanosystems. The goal of this simplified modeling of gating, is on one hand to be able to provide a deeper understanding of biological gating, providing us with quantitiative criteria for the study of biological systems. On the other hand we have the ambition to be able to design bio-inspired nanotechnology for technological applications spanning from energy storage to synthetic ion channels.

Advisor: Alberto Giacomello

Researchers: Antonio Tinti, Emanuele Telari, Fabio Rasera