Solid-State Nanopore/Nanochannel Sensors with Enhanced Selectivity through Pore-in Modification

Abstract

Nanopore sensing technology, as an emerging analytical method, has the advantages of simple operation, fast output, and label-free and has been widely used in fields such as protein analysis, gene sequencing, and biomarker detection. Inspired by biological ion channels, scientists have prepared various artificial solid-state nanopores/nanochannels. Biological ion channels have extremely high ion transport selectivity, while solid-state nanopores/nanochannels have poor selectivity. The selectivity of solid-state nanopores and nanochannels can be enhanced by modifying channel charge, varying pore size, incorporating specific chemical functionality, and adjusting operating (or solution) conditions. This Perspective highlights pore-in modification strategies for enhancing the selectivity of solid-state nanopore/nanochannel sensors by summarizing the articles published in the last 10 years. The future development prospects and challenges of pore-in modification in solid-state nanopore and nanochannel sensors are discussed. This Perspective helps readers better understand nanopore sensing technology, especially the importance of detection selectivity. We believe that solid-state nanopore/nanochannel sensors will soon enter our homes after various challenges.

Mathematical Approximation for Quantifying Noise Level in Silicon- and Nonsilicon-Based Chips for DNA Detection

“…As previously mentioned, nanopore-based sensors demonstrate efficacy in detecting small molecules . The nanopore’s dimensions, typically ranging between 5 and 10 nm, play a pivotal role in this process.…”

Local Electric Potential-Driven Nanofluidic Ion Transport for Ultrasensitive Biochemical Sensing

“…Inspired by nature, artificial nanofluidic biosensors have been demonstrated as powerful tools for low-cost, rapid, ultrasensitive, and label-free detection of multiple biomolecule species including ions, small molecules, nucleic acids, proteins, cell types, and viruses. − They have done so by specific interactions of recognition probes and targets at the sensing interface followed by transduction of these interactions into a measurable ionic current signal driven by a certain voltage. − Specifically, the nanofluidic membrane surface is modified with target-specific probes capable of recognizing and capturing a target molecule, which results in the change of the membrane’s surface charge, − surface wettability, − and/or efficient size − of the nanofluidic channels. All these characters would affect the membrane resistance and, thus, increase or decrease ionic current signal of the biosensors. − However, probe–target interactions for some targets with few charges or low concentration have minimal effect on these factors, which result in unchanged system resistance and limited sensitivity.…”

Editors’ Choice—Perspective—Deciphering the Glycan Kryptos by Solid-State Nanopore Single-Molecule Sensing: A Call for Integrated Advancements Across Glyco- and Nanopore Science

“…Nanopores are nanoscale channels formed through insulating membranes. [34][35][36][37][38][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] There are a number of different nanopore sensing platforms-protein, polymer, pipette, molecular, and thinfilm (down to 2D materials) solid-state-that have history and promise for glycan analysis. Each type offers different opportunities and challenges in terms of geometry and material compositionincluding tunability of both-and of fabrication and deployment configuration.…”

“…Each type offers different opportunities and challenges in terms of geometry and material compositionincluding tunability of both-and of fabrication and deployment configuration. [34][35][36][37][38][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] The elements of nanopore sensing performance that are determined by nanopore surface chemistry 6,42,[47][48][49][50] can be partly or completely decoupled from their underlying nanopore material composition when suitable surface decoration methods are available. Different nanopore types will generally require different coating or decoration methods and we refer the reader to the literature, including comprehensive reviews.…”

“…Different nanopore types will generally require different coating or decoration methods and we refer the reader to the literature, including comprehensive reviews. 35,38,40,42,[51][52][53][54][55] In this focused Perspective article, we feature size-tunable (∼1-100+ nm-diameter, ∼10 nm-long) solid-state nanopores in thin-film silicon nitride (SiN x ) membranes because SiN x offers conventional microfabrication compatibility with implications for the potential manufacture, at scale, of sophisticated multipore devices with integrated electronics.…”