Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Lab Chip. 2017 Sep 12;17(18):3006-3025. doi: 10.1039/c7lc00588a.
With various promising applications demonstrated, nanofluidics has been of broad research interest in the past decade. As nanofluidics matures from a proof of concept towards practical applications, it faces two major barriers: expensive nanofabrication and ultra-low throughput. To date, the only material that enables nanofabrication-free, high-throughput, yet precisely controllable nanofluidic systems is the close-packed nanoparticle array, i.e. nanofluidic crystals. Recently, significant progress in nanofluidics has been made using nanofluidic crystals, including high-current ionic diodes, high-power energy harvesters, efficient biomolecular separation, and facile biosensors. Nanofluidic crystals are seen as a key to applying nanofluidic concepts to real-world applications. In this review, we introduce the key concepts and models in nanofluidic crystals, summarize the fabrication methods, and discuss the various applications of nanofluidic crystals in depth, highlighting their advantages in terms of simple fabrication, low cost, flexibility, and high throughput. Finally, we provide our perspectives on the future of nanofluidic crystals and their potential impacts.
随着各种有前景的应用得到展示，过去十年中，纳流控已经引起了广泛的研究兴趣。随着纳流控从概念验证走向实际应用，它面临着两个主要障碍：昂贵的纳米制造和超低的通量。迄今为止，唯一能够实现无纳米制造、高通量且精确可控的纳流控系统的材料是密排纳米颗粒阵列，即纳流控晶体。最近，纳流控晶体在纳流控领域取得了重大进展，包括大电流离子二极管、高功率能量收集器、高效生物分子分离和简易生物传感器。纳流控晶体被视为将纳流控概念应用于实际应用的关键。在这篇综述中，我们介绍了纳流控晶体的关键概念和模型，总结了其制造方法，并深入讨论了纳流控晶体的各种应用，强调了其在制造简单、成本低、灵活性和高通量方面的优势。最后，我们对纳流控晶体的未来及其潜在影响提出了看法。
