Biological Ion Channels-Inspired Materials for Energy Conversion, Ionic Sieving, and Sensing

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue “Biological Ion Channels-Inspired Materials for Energy Conversion, Ionic Sieving, and Sensing” aims to showcase the latest advances in the rational design, controllable fabrication, multi-scale characterization, and multifunctional applications of artificial nanopores and nanochannels. Inspired by biological ion channels, these artificial nanofluidic systems offer unprecedented spatial confinement, surface tunability, and ion/molecule transport selectivity, providing powerful platforms for single-molecule sensing, label-free biosensing, energy conversion, seawater desalination, and neuromorphic computing. This Special Issue welcomes contributions that address fundamental mechanisms—such as ionic rectification, gating, quantum-confined superfluid transport, and external-field-driven selectivity—as well as technological innovations that translate nanofluidic phenomena into portable, high-throughput, and energy-efficient devices. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: two-dimensional-material-based nanochannels (e.g., MXene, graphene oxide, MoS₂), asymmetric/hybrid pore architectures, surface modification strategies (pore-in, outer-surface, or dual functionalization), stimuli-responsive nanochannels, ionic logic circuits, and large-area membrane integration. Emphasis is also placed on emerging fabrication routes (CVD, wet-spinning, TEM drilling, ion-track etching), in situ/operando characterization, and multiphysics simulations bridging atomistic insights to device-level performance. By integrating experimental, theoretical, and application-oriented perspectives, this Special Issue will serve as an interdisciplinary forum for researchers to share breakthroughs, identify big challenges, and inspire future directions in solid-state nanopore/nanochannel science, paving the way toward next-generation sensing, information, and energy technologies.

Prof. Dr. Xiang-Yu Kong
Guest Editor

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