School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China.
Fudan University, State Key Lab Mol Engn Polymers, Shanghai, 200433, P. R. China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 Sep 2;58(36):12481-12485. doi: 10.1002/anie.201906360. Epub 2019 Aug 1.
A biomimetic conical submicrochannel (tip side ca. 400 nm) with functions of continuously tunable ion rectification and conductance based on thermoresponsive polymer layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly is presented. These self-assembled polymers with different layers exhibited a capability to regulate the effective channel diameter, and different ion rectifications/conductance were achieved. By controlling temperature, the conformation and wettability of the assembled polymers were reversibly transformed, thus the ion rectification/conductance could be further adjusted subtly. Owing to the synergistic effect, the ion conductance could be tuned over a wide range spanning three orders of magnitude. Moreover, the proposed system can be applied for on-demand on-off molecule delivery, which was important for disease therapy. This study opens a new door for regulating channel size according to actual demand and sensing big targets with different size with one channel.
本文提出了一种具有连续可调离子整流和电导功能的仿生锥形亚微米通道（尖端侧约 400nm），基于温敏聚合物层层自组装。这些具有不同层的自组装聚合物具有调节有效通道直径的能力，并实现了不同的离子整流/电导。通过控制温度，组装聚合物的构象和润湿性可以可逆地转变，从而可以进一步微妙地调节离子整流/电导。由于协同效应，离子电导可以在跨越三个数量级的宽范围内进行调节。此外，所提出的系统可用于按需开-关分子输送，这对于疾病治疗非常重要。这项研究为根据实际需求调节通道尺寸以及用一个通道感应不同大小的大目标开辟了新的途径。
