Ion transport in biological and synthetic nanochannels is characterized by
phenomena such as ion current fluctuations and rectification. Recently, it has
been demonstrated that nanofabricated synthetic pores can mimic transport
properties of biological ion channels [P. Yu. Apel, {\it et al.}, Nucl. Instr.
Meth. B {\bf 184}, 337 (2001); Z. Siwy, {\it et al.}, Europhys. Lett. {\bf 60},
349 (2002)]. Here, the ion current rectification is studied within a reduced 1D
Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) model of synthetic nanopores. A conical channel of
a few nm to a few hundred of nm in diameter, and of few μm long
is considered in the limit where the channel length considerably exceeds the
Debye screening length. The rigid channel wall is assumed to be weakly charged.
A one-dimensional reduction of the three-dimensional problem in terms of
corresponding entropic effects is put forward. The ion transport is described
by the non-equilibrium steady-state solution of the 1D Poisson-Nernst-Planck
system within a singular perturbation treatment. An analytic formula for the
approximate rectification current in the lowest order perturbation theory is
derived. A detailed comparison between numerical results and the singular
perturbation theory is presented. The crucial importance of the asymmetry in
the potential jumps at the pore ends on the rectification effect is
demonstrated. This so constructed 1D theory is shown to describe well the
experimental data in the regime of small-to-moderate electric currents.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure