Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology and Systems, Ministry of Education, Defense Key Disciplines Lab of Novel Micro-Nano Devices and System Technology, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
Chongqing Key Laboratory of Multi-Scale Manufacturing Technology, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chongqing 400714, China.
Biosensors (Basel). 2022 Jun 24;12(7):451. doi: 10.3390/bios12070451.
Noninvasive manipulation of nanoscopic species in liquids has attracted considerable attention due to its potential applications in diverse fields. Many sophisticated methodologies have been developed to control and study nanoscopic entities, but the low-power, cost-effective, and versatile manipulation of nanometer-sized objects in liquids remains challenging. Here, we present a dielectrophoretic (DEP) manipulation technique based on nanogap electrodes, with which the on-demand capturing, enriching, and sorting of nano-objects in microfluidic systems can be achieved. The dielectrophoretic control unit consists of a pair of swelling-induced nanogap electrodes crossing a microchannel, generating a steep electric field gradient and thus strong DEP force for the effective manipulation of nano-objects microfluidics. The trapping, enriching, and sorting of nanoparticles and DNAs were performed with this device to demonstrate its potential applications in micro/nanofluidics, which opens an alternative avenue for the non-invasive manipulation and characterization of nanoparticles such as DNA, proteins, and viruses.
由于在各个领域的潜在应用，人们对液体中纳米级物质的非侵入式操控引起了相当大的关注。已经开发出许多复杂的方法来控制和研究纳米级实体，但在液体中对纳米级物体进行低功率、经济高效且多功能的操控仍然具有挑战性。在这里，我们提出了一种基于纳米间隙电极的介电泳（DEP）操控技术，可实现微流系统中纳米物体的按需捕获、富集和分类。介电泳控制单元由一对诱导肿胀的纳米间隙电极交叉构成微通道，产生陡峭的电场梯度，从而产生强大的介电泳力，可有效操控微流体中的纳米物体。利用该装置实现了对纳米颗粒和 DNA 的捕获、富集和分类，展示了其在微纳流控领域的潜在应用，为非侵入式操控和表征 DNA、蛋白质和病毒等纳米颗粒开辟了一条新途径。
