Electrolyte Diffusion in Gyroidal Nanoporous Carbon

Abstract

The structural properties of gyroidal nanoporous carbon (GNC) materials and their diffusion properties are investigated using a combination of molecular dynamics methods. We consider nine different GNC materials with variable pore geometry and pore size to establish that the local curvature induced by the presence of specific carbon ring size imposes highly specific behavior on electrolyte diffusion inside the GNC channels. We also find that GNC materials containing carbon square and heptagon motifs are globally more rigid and locally more flexible than GNC materials containing octagonal rings. The most rigid GNC’s present a faster water diffusion, indicating that the diffusion properties can be controlled by a proper choice of gyroid size and density. The analysis emphasizes that a fine balance between water permeation and ionic conduction can lead to GNC materials with attractive properties for nanofluidic applications. The impact of these findings are discussed in terms of their ionic transport, water filtration, and energy storage properties