Vortices are essential dynamic characteristics of fluid flow and play a dominant role in energy transfer, material mixing and flow regulation. When fluids are confined to the nanoscale, the generation and regulation of vortices behave distinctly differently compared with macroscopic fluid flows.

In this work, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations are adopted to systematically investigate water transport in two-dimensional valveless nanopumps driven by mechanical vibration, with a focus on how vortex regulation affects water transport efficiency. The simulation results show that introducing appropriately sized flow-disturbing structures into the nanochannels reduces the effective transport cross-sectional area, yet unexpectedly improves the water transport efficiency of valveless nanopumps. The water flow is approximately 4–10 times higher than that in smooth nanochannels without flow-disturbing structures. By analyzing microscopic characteristics—including velocity field, mean absolute vorticity, average kinetic energy distribution, and number density distribution of water molecules—the inherent correlation between the evolution of vortex structures and fluid transport efficiency is elucidated.

This study enriches the fundamental understanding of nanoscale vortex regulation and fluid transport, and provides theoretical and technical guidance for the design, fabrication, and optimization of high-performance two-dimensional nanofluidic devices.