Peltier cooling for thermal management in nanofluidic devices
Makusu Tsutsui, Kazumichi Yokota, Wei Lun Hsu, Denis Garoli, Hirofumi Daiguji, Tomoji Kawai
Abstract
Permselectivity is a fundamental property of ion channels that enables one-way flow of specific cations or anions through cell membranes. Although energy dissipation phenomena in these ion channels involving thermoelectricity have been thoroughly investigated, heat transport for these channels at the nanoscale remains relatively unexplored. Here we report on nanofluidic thermoelectric cooling via the Peltier effect driven by charge-selective ion transport. We discovered that, when the ion concentration was high, the local temperature increased with the input electrical power via non-selective ion flow-mediated heat dissipation. In contrast, the nanopore temperature decreased with increasing transmembrane voltage in low-salinity water, where the negative surface charges at the channel wall rendered cation selectivity to allow heat pumping via the counter-ion flux. This ionic refrigeration may be used for thermal management in nanofluidic devices and shows insights into temperature regulation mechanisms within ion channels of live cells.