Abstract
When water flows through 1D or 2D channels, its behaviour deviates substantially from the well-established principles of hydrodynamics. This is because reducing the dimensionality of any interacting physical system amplifies interaction effects that are beyond the reach of traditional hydrodynamic equations. In low-dimensional water, hydrogen bonds can become stable enough to arrange water molecules into an ordered state, causing water to behave not only like a liquid but also like a solid in certain respects. In this Review, we explore the relationship between the molecular ordering of water and its ability to flow in low-dimensional channels, using viscosities of bulk water, vapour, and ice as benchmarks. We also provide a brief overview of the key theoretical approaches available for such analyses and discuss ionic transport, which is heavily influenced by the molecular structure of water. The dynamic interaction between low-dimensional water transport and ion-coupled structural features lies at the heart of recent advances in the design and investigation of angstrom-scale biomimetic and neuromorphic channels.
Key points
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Confining water to 1D lowers its viscosity, whereas 2D confinement results in viscosity higher than that of bulk water.
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A clear correlation exists between the viscosity of low-dimensional water and the average number of hydrogen bonds per molecule.
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Although bulk water exhibits a viscosity increase of more than 10 orders of magnitude upon freezing, no first-order liquid–solid transition occurs in the 1D limit.
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In low-dimensional water, intrinsic (viscous) and extrinsic (slippage-related) friction cannot be clearly distinguished.
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Different ions restructure surrounding water into distinct hydration shells, competing with confinement effects and giving rise to intrinsic ion selectivity in low-dimensional water.
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Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education Research Centre of Excellence award to the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials (I-FIM, Project No. EDUNC-33-18-279-V12).
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M.T. and K.S.N. developed the concept of the manuscript. M.T. and D.V.A. collected data. M.T. and F.M.P. wrote the manuscript.
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Trushin, M., Andreeva, D.V., Peeters, F.M. et al. Structure and flow of low-dimensional water. Nat Rev Phys 7, 502–513 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-025-00857-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-025-00857-x
