posted on 2024-01-11, 16:11authored byYechan Noh, Alex Smolyanitsky
In
living organisms, information is processed in interconnected
symphonies of ionic currents spiking through protein ion channels.
As a result of dynamic switching of their conductive states, ion channels
exhibit a variety of current–voltage nonlinearities and memory
effects. Fueled by the promise of computing architectures entirely
different from von Neumann, recent attempts to identify and harness
similar phenomena in artificial nanofluidic environments focused on
demonstrating analogue circuit elements with memory. Here we explore
aqueous ionic transport through two-dimensional (2D) membranes featuring
arrays of ion-trapping crown-ether-like pores. We demonstrate that
for aqueous salts featuring ions with different ion–pore binding
affinities, memristive effects emerge through coupling between the
time-delayed state of the system and its transport properties. We
also demonstrate a nanopore array that behaves as a capacitor with
a strain-tunable built-in barrier, yielding behaviors ranging from
current spiking to an ohmic response. By focusing on the illustrative
underlying mechanisms, we demonstrate that realistically observable
memory effects may be achieved in nanofluidic systems featuring crown-porous
2D membranes.