A universal design of field-effect-tunable microfluidic ion diode based on a gating cation-exchange nanoporous membrane

Based on the continuum mechanics theory, we propose herein a universal design of microfluidic ionic diode based on external concentration polarization of a gating ion-selective medium embedded in the microfluidic network with four power terminals. This micro/nanofluidic hybrid chip employs a cation-exchange nanoporous membrane (CEM) coupled with both a control and output microfluidic channel. Under the action of a vertical electric field throughout the CEM, nanoscale surface conduction of excessive counterions within the charged nanopores is converted to the propagation of either enriched or depleted boundary toward the opposing electrode-terminal in phase with the electroconvective flow, thereby making an adjustment in the electrical conductance of output microchannel for achieving high-flux field-effect current control and diode functionality. Three basic working states, including the “on,” “transition,” and “off” statuses, are distinguished in different ranges of source voltage magnitude. The rectification factor of the proposed ionic circuit platform can attain one hundred-fold even at small source and gate voltages. The presented field-effect-tunable microfluidic ion diode is easily scalable, permits appreciable fluid flow due to an intrinsically small hydrodynamic resistance, and holds promise for producing high-flux ion current rectification in next-generation integrated circuits.