Nanopores refer to those holes that are so tiny that only a single molecule or particle can pass through them at once. These holes are beneficial for the detection of the motion of nanoparticles through an electrical signal. This ability makes nanopores a potential platform for novel single-particle sensors. Yet, controlling the movement of the particles has been difficult to overcome hitherto.
Now, researchers have been successful in creating voltage-controlled nanopores that have the ability to capture particles as they pass through. This is a big development in Genomic Sequencing Market as it might lead to the production of cheaper and faster genomic sequencing and the construction of single-molecule sensors.
The team achieved this feat by fabricating nanopores in silicon dioxide. These pores were only 300 nm in diameter and were surrounded by electrodes. They have the ability to stop particles from entering, which they make happen by applying a voltage. This may permit the evolution of sensors to discover small concentrations of target molecules or maybe the next-generation DNA sequencing technology.
In order to produce solid-state nanopores, researchers used integrated nanoelectromechanical system technology. The pores were only 300nm wide and had circular platinum gate electrodes all around the opening resulting in the prevention of nanoparticles' passage. The task is achieved by selecting the appropriate voltage that pulls ions in the solutions to create a countervailing flow with the power to block the entry of the nanoparticles.
Similarly, single-nanoparticle motions could be managed by applying a voltage to the surrounding gate of electrodes when the electroosmotic flow is fine-tuned with the help of surface electric potential. Once the particle is trapped at the nanopore opening, a slight force imbalance can be created between the hydrodynamic drag and the electrophoretic attraction. During this time, the particles can be pulled tremendously slow, enabling the threading of long polymers like DNA at the correct speed for sequencing.
The newly developed method facilitates better sensing accuracy of sub-micrometer objects like viruses and can also turn out to be a method for protein structural analysis. Nanopores have already helped determine the identity of several target molecules on the basis of the current generated. But this technology can allow for a more vast range of analytes to be tested in a similar manner. For instance, small molecules like proteins and micro-RNA can also be detected through this method.