Small
Small
4 years ago

Phosphate-Responsive Biomimetic Nanofluidic Diodes Regulated by Polyamine–Phosphate Interactions: Insights into Their Functional Behavior from Theory and Experiment

Phosphate-Responsive Biomimetic Nanofluidic Diodes Regulated by Polyamine–Phosphate Interactions: Insights into Their Functional Behavior from Theory and Experiment
María Eugenia Toimil-Molares, Omar Azzaroni, Waldemar A. Marmisollé, Alberto G. Albesa, Christina Trautmann, Gonzalo Pérez-Mitta
There is currently high interest in developing nanofluidic devices whose iontronic output is defined by biological interactions. The fabrication of a phosphate responsive nanofluidic diode by using the biological relevant amine–phosphate interactions is shown. The fabrication procedure includes the modification of a track-etched asymmetric (conical) nanochannel with polyallylamine (PAH) by electrostatic self-assembly. PAH is the arcaetypical model of polyamine and it is further used to address the nanochannels with phosphate responsivity. In order to explore the influence that phosphate in solution has in the conductance of the modified nanochannels, current–voltage measurements using different concentrations of phosphates are performed. Furthermore, to have a complete physicochemical understanding of the system, experimental data is analyzed using a continuous model based on Poison–Nernst–Planck equations and compared with results obtained from stochastic Monte Carlo simulations. The ionic transport properties of nanochannels decorated with polyamines can be fine-tuned by the presence of inorganic phosphates. Monte Carlo simulations reveal that these functional properties arise from a complex interplay between the polyamine and phosphate counterions, which, in turn, determine the concentration of mobile carriers inside the nanochannels.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/smll.201702131

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.