Transport-Induced Inversion of Screening Ionic Charges in Nanochannels.

This work reveals a counterintuitive but basic process of ionic screening in nanofluidic channels. Steady-state numerical simulations and mathematical analysis show that, under significant longitudinal ionic transport, the screening ionic charges can be locally inverted in the channels: their charge sign becomes the same as that of the channel surface charges. The process is identified to originate from the coupling of ionic electro-diffusion transport and junction two-dimensional electrostatics. This finding may expand our understanding of ionic screening and electrical double layers in nanochannels. Furthermore, the charge inversion process results in a body-force torque on channel fluids, which is a possible mechanism for vortex generation in the channels and their nonlinear current-voltage characteristics.