Hwang Imgon, Riboni Francesca, Gongadze Ekaterina, Iglič Aleš, Yoo JeongEun, So Seulgi, Mazare Anca, Schmuki Patrik
Department of Materials Science WW4-LKO, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Martensstrasse 7 91058 Erlangen Germany
Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials Šlechtitelů 27 78371 Olomouc Czech Republic.
Nanoscale Adv. 2019 Nov 11;1(12):4844-4852. doi: 10.1039/c9na00480g. eCollection 2019 Dec 3.
Here we report that both-end open anodic TiO nanotube membranes, after sensitization with a Ru(ii)-based dye, exhibit visible-light switching properties for flow-through the nanotube channels. Under illumination, the gate is in an open state providing ∼four-times faster permeation of small molecules through the membrane compared to a dark state. Switching is reversible with no apparent dye degradation being observed. Gating is possible not only of permeating dye molecules but also of nanoprobes such as polystyrene nanospheres. Supported by quantitative modelling, we attribute the switching mechanism to light-induced changes of the charge distribution at the dye/TiO interface which in turn alters the hydrodynamics within the anodic tube membranes. This demonstrates that these simple dye-sensitized nanotube membranes can be used as an optically addressable flow-through gate in nanofluidics.
在此我们报告，两端开口的阳极二氧化钛纳米管膜在用钌（II）基染料敏化后，对通过纳米管通道的流动表现出可见光开关特性。在光照下，通道处于开放状态，与黑暗状态相比，小分子通过膜的渗透速度快约四倍。开关是可逆的，未观察到明显的染料降解。不仅可以对渗透的染料分子进行门控，还可以对聚苯乙烯纳米球等纳米探针进行门控。在定量建模的支持下，我们将开关机制归因于染料/二氧化钛界面处电荷分布的光诱导变化，这反过来又改变了阳极管膜内的流体动力学。这表明这些简单的染料敏化纳米管膜可作为纳米流体学中光控的流通通道。
