Solute particle near a nanopore: influence of size and surface properties on the solvent-mediated forcesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: (1) Computation of the contact angle relationship with the energy parameter , (2) density profile, (3) geometrical expressions used to compute the depletion forces using a capillary model, (4) model to identify conditions at which the cylindrical pore is filled/empty, (5) comparison of density profiles for small hydrophilic pores and (6) na

Nanoscopic pores are used in various systems to attract nanoparticles. In general the behaviour is a result of two types of interactions: the material specific affinity and the solvent-mediated influence also called the depletion force. The latter is more universal but also much more complex to understand since it requires modeling both the nanoparticle and the solvent. Here, we employed classical density functional theory to determine the forces acting on a nanoparticle near a nanoscopic pore as a function of its hydrophobicity and its size. A simple capillary model is constructed to predict those depletion forces for various surface properties. For a nanoscopic pore, complexity arises from both the specific geometry and the fact that hydrophobic pores are not necessarily filled with liquid. Taking all of these effects into account and including electrostatic effects, we establish a phase diagram describing the entrance and the rejection of the nanoparticle from the pore. Nanoscopic pores are used in various systems to attract nanoparticles.