Fluctuation-induced quantum friction in nanoscale water flows

The flow of water in carbon nanochannels has defied understanding thus far1, with accumulating experimental evidence for ultra-low friction, exceptionally high water flow rates and curvature-dependent hydrodynamic slippage2–5. In particular, the mechanism of water–carbon friction remains unknown6, with neither current theories7 nor classical8,9 or ab initio molecular dynamics simulations10 providing satisfactory rationalization for its singular behaviour. Here we develop a quantum theory of the solid–liquid interface, which reveals a new contribution to friction, due to the coupling of charge fluctuations in the liquid to electronic excitations in the solid. We expect that this quantum friction, which is absent in Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics, is the dominant friction mechanism for water on carbon-based materials. As a key result, we demonstrate a marked difference in quantum friction between the water–graphene and water–graphite interface, due to the coupling of water Debye collective modes with a thermally excited plasmon specific to graphite. This suggests an explanation for the radius-dependent slippage of water in carbon nanotubes4, in terms of the electronic excitations of the nanotubes. Our findings open the way for quantum engineering of hydrodynamic flows through the electronic properties of the confining wall.