The Power Spectrum of Ionic Nanopore Currents: The Role of Ion Correlations

nl_mira_2016

Abstract

We calculate the power spectrum of electric-field-driven ion transport through nanometer-scale membrane pores using both linearized mean-field theory and Langevin dynamics simulations. Remarkably, the linearized mean-field theory predicts a plateau in the power spectral density at low frequency ω, which is confirmed by the simulations at low ion concentration. At high ion concentration, however, the power spectral density follows a power law that is reminiscent of the 1/ωα dependence found experimentally at low frequency. On the basis of simulations with and without ion–ion interactions, we attribute the low-frequency power-law dependence to ion–ion correlations. We show that neither a static surface charge density, nor an increased pore length, nor an increased ion valency have a significant effect on the shape of the power spectral density at low frequency.

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