Competition between Cations via Classical Poisson–Nernst–Planck Models with Nonzero but Small Permanent Charges

We study a one-dimensional Poisson–Nernst–Planck system for ionic flow through a membrane channel. Nonzero but small permanent charge, the major structural quantity of an ion channel, is included in the model. Two cations with the same valences and one anion are included in the model, which provides more rich and complicated correlations/interactions between ions. The cross-section area of the channel is included in the system, and it provides certain information of the geometry of the three-dimensional channel, which is critical for our analysis. Geometric singular perturbation analysis is employed to establish the existence and local uniqueness of solutions to the system for small permanent charges. Treating the permanent charge as a small parameter, through regular perturbation analysis, we are able to derive approximations of the individual fluxes explicitly, and this allows us to study the competition between two cations, which is related to the selectivity phenomena of ion channels. Numerical simulations are performed to provide a more intuitive illustration of our analytical results, and they are consistent.