外加场分离技术与微流控技术联用在微纳尺度物质分离中的研究进展

微纳尺度物质的分离和分选在精准医学、材料科学和单细胞分析等研究中至关重要。精准、高效和快速的分离微纳尺度物质能够为癌症的早期诊断、生物样品检测和细胞筛选提供重要帮助,其中基于外加场分离技术的分离微纳尺度物质因可以对微纳尺度物质高效在线分离和分选,被广泛应用于微纳米颗粒、外泌体以及生物细胞的分离工作中,而目前多数外加场分离技术存在装备繁琐和样品消耗大等问题。微流控技术是一种通过制作微通道和微流控芯片操纵微小流体对微纳尺度样品组分进行分离的技术,因具有快速检测、高通量、在线分离、集成性高、成本低等优势现被应用于微纳尺度物质分离分析中,是一种微纳尺度物质分离的有效方法,通过在微流控芯片上设计不同的通道及外部配件提高主动场对微纳尺度物质分离效率。外加场分离技术与微流控技术联用可以实现微纳尺度物质的无损、高效、在线分离。该综述主要概述了近年来在微流控芯片上依托流动场、电场、磁场及声场等外加场分离技术来提高对微纳尺度物质分离效率的研究现状,并将各个外力场对单细胞、微颗粒等微纳尺度物质的分离进行分类介绍,总结各自的优缺点及发展应用,最后展望了外加场分离技术与微流控技术联用在应用于癌细胞的早期筛查、精确分离微尺度物质领域的未来发展前景,并提出联用技术的优势和未来应用等。     

简易制备高整流比的异质纳米通道

生命体内的离子通道在各种生物功能调节过程及生命活动中具有重要的意义.模仿生物孔道的离子输运性质,构筑人工纳米通道,并研究人工纳米通道的离子输运性质是一项具有重大意义的研究课题.本文通过双面阳极氧化和原位扩孔结合的方法制备了对称结构的沙漏形氧化铝纳米通道.通过在对称结构的沙漏形氧化铝（AAO）纳米通道一侧粘贴一层透明胶带,经过热处理后,获得了一种具有高整流比的有机-无机异质纳米通道.基于非对称的结构和电荷分布,氧化铝纳米通道与有机纳米通道在复合区域形成异质结构.由于多孔AAO纳米通道和有机纳米通道的协同效应,异质纳米通道表现出独特的纳米流体二极管特性,即在比较宽的pH范围内具有单一的整流方向.在该体系中,氧化铝纳米通道内壁的羟基和有机纳米通道内壁的羧基在不同pH值下所带电荷性质不同,使异质结构纳米通道内壁表面电荷的性质和电荷密度发生改变,可以通过调节体系的pH来调控通道内的离子传输.     

具有串/并联复合离子输运特性的仿生纳米通道的构筑与整流性能

人工构筑了基于分枝氧化铝纳米通道的串/并联复合的纳流体二极管体系, 其具有可调的离子整流性能. 在这种两级分枝结构的1-2-2, 1-2-3, 1-3-2和1-3-3型氧化铝纳米通道中, 若将每一个分枝节点等效为一个二极管, 那么其一级分枝节点相当于串联的1个二极管, 二级分枝节点相当于并联的多个二极管. 因此1-2-2和1-2-3型纳米通道的电路图可等效为并联的2个二极管与第3个二极管相串联, 1-3-2和1-3-3型纳米通道的电路图可等效为并联的3个二极管与第4个二极管相串联. 但由于1-2-2和1-2-3型以及1-3-2和1-3-3型的二级分枝的结构和数目不同, 可将这4种纳米通道等效为不同的串/并联复合特性的纳流体二极管体系, 并且表现出依次增大的离子整流. 即分枝氧化铝纳米通道内部一级分枝和二级分枝的结构或数目共同调控的表面电荷非对称性可以改变其离子整流性能. 进一步地, 具有代表性的1-2-2型分枝纳米通道的整流率随分枝通道长度的增加而增加, 这表明分枝部分对整个串/并联复合纳流体二极管的整流特性起到决定性的作用. 相比于以前的单个离子二极管体系, 这种具有串/并联复合特性的多级分枝氧化铝纳米通道将为构筑更复杂的仿生纳流体二极管的研究提供有价值的借鉴.     

纳流控-电化学技术在生化分析领域的研究进展

纳流控作为一个崭新的研究领域正受到越来越多的关注,并且已被成功应用到纳米尺度分离、生化传感、能量转化等诸多领域. 纳流控的发展与电化学紧密相连,一方面,电化学可以为纳米孔道中的物质传输特性的研究提供驱动力;另一方面,纳米孔道可以为限域电化学研究提供微环境. 纳流控和电化学技术相辅相成,催生了许多单分子、单粒子分析以及纳米流体操控的新理念与新技术. 本综述从纳米孔道与电极的结合方式出发,对纳流控-电化学相关研究进行了总结与展望.     

仿生纳米通道的制备、修饰及生物分析应用

纳流控作为一种新兴技术,近年来得到了广泛关注.其产生和发展伴随着新流体现象的发现和新型器件的诞生.纳米流体中独特的物质传输性质和潜在的应用引起了广泛关注.迄今为止,纳米通道器件在DNA测序、单分子传感、能源储存与转换、离子门控等方面显示出了巨大的应用前景.本文总结了仿生纳米通道的设计与制备、纳米通道功能化修饰的策略及其在生物分析中的应用研究,并思考了仿生纳米通道的发展与面临的挑战.     

纳滤膜在水处理中的最新应用进展

纳滤膜(NF)是新的分离膜品种,对溶质的截留性能介于超滤膜(UF)和反渗透膜(RO)之间。纳滤膜的特性是表面带有电荷并具有纳米级的微孔,能够去除高价离子和分子量大于200的溶解性的有机物。特殊的分离效果使纳滤技术单独或者和其它技术联用应用于水处理领域,主要包括:(1)饮用水制备和深度净化;(2)海水淡化;(3)废水处理,例如生活污水、垃圾渗滤液等等。本文综述了纳滤技术在上述水处理领域中的应用进展及现存问题。     

压力对带有pH值可调聚电解质刷的仿生纳米孔中离子选择性的影响

具有pH值可调聚电解质（Polyelectrolyte,PE）刷的合成纳米孔的仿生离子通道在纳米尺度下离子、流体和生物粒子的主动运输控制方面具有重大应用潜力. 离子选择性是纳流体设备中离子传输的重要现象,具有很大的现实意义和实用价值. 本文提出了施加压力控制纳米孔中离子选择度的方法,综合研究了溶液pH值、浓度、外加电压和压力对离子选择度的影响. 仿真结果表明,离子选择度对压力的刺激是敏感的,且不像电压对离子选择度的影响会受到溶液pH值和浓度的制约,且方向不定,速度不可控;压力对离子选择度的影响不受溶液性质制约,并且灵活可控. 该结果对设计带pH值可调聚电解质刷的纳米孔有重要的启发作用.     

导电聚合物构建的高性能固态离子选择电极

基于最新研究文献和自身研究工作,系统总结了以导电聚合物构建的各种高性能固态离子选择电极.导电聚合物所特有的共轭结构以及电子导电和离子导电的双重导电功能使其可以作为离子-电子转换器,从而实现对离子的传感响应与探测.由聚苯胺、聚吡咯和聚噻吩等导电聚合物为转换中间层而构建的离子选择电极可以实现纳摩尔浓度水平的离子传感探测,有望在环境监测、药物医疗和食品安全等诸多方面发挥重要作用.     

恒电压下百草枯和阿特拉津在纳米通道中迁移特性研究

采用化学沉积法将金沉积到聚碳酸酯膜内孔壁,制备了呈负电性的阵列金纳米通道.在外加恒电压作用下,阳离子型的百草枯选择性通过负电性的金纳米通道,阿特拉津为分子型化合物,不受电荷选择性和电泳作用影响,难以在金纳米通道内迁移.借此,可实现二者的分离.     

纳米多孔金的单分子层门控离子输运性质研究

生物离子通道能够对环境刺激作出响应,有效地调节细胞内外的物质平衡,保证体内的正常生命活动.研究具有生物离子通道功能的人工离子通道对发展离子开关具有重要的意义.本工作利用电化学去合金法制备了具有三维通道结构的纳米多孔金膜,并将其应用于离子通道,研究其离子输运性质.在电场作用下,纳米多孔金由于发生极化而使通道表现出离子整流性质.在纳米多孔金表面修饰十二烷基硫醇单分子层,利用其疏水效应,通道能够阻止离子的传输,使其处于“关闭”态.溶液中的化学刺激如表面活性剂能够增强电解质溶液在通道表面的浸润,有利于离子的传输,使通道处于“打开”态.这种单分子层修饰的纳米多孔金表现出表面活性剂响应的离子开关特性.     

Nanochannels for low-grade energy harvesting

The exploit of low-grade energies, such as osmotic energy, thermal energy, and mechanical energy, is of great importance to alleviate the energy crisis. However, current energy harvesting technologies are generally plagued by their low efficiencies. Nanofluidic technology that based on the regulation of ion transport at the nanoscale has shown great potential in energy fields. In this review, we focus on the nanochannel-based energy harvesting, including the selectivity and permeability of the nanochannel, the theoretical output energy, and the difference between single- and multi-pore systems. Three typical energy harvesting modes are then introduced. Finally, the challenges are briefly summarized and an outlook of the nanochannel-based energy harvesting technology is provided.     

Mass transport in nanofluidic devices

Nanofluidics is a recent appearing research field, introduced in 1995 as an analogue of the field of microfluidics, and has been becoming popular in the past few years. The proximity of the channel dimension, the Debye length, and the size of biomolecules such as DNA and proteins gives the unique features of nanofluidic devices. Of various unique properties of the nanofluidics, mass transport in nanochannel plays determining roles in fundamental reaches and practical applications of nanofluidic device. Thus, much work including numerical and experimental researches has been performed to investigate the mass transport behaviors in nanofluidic devices. This review summarizes the fabrication technologies for nanofluidic devices, the mass transport behaviors in nanochannel, and their applications in bioanalysis. The main focus will be laid on the effects of nanochannel size and surface charge on mass transport including electrokinetic transport of charged analytes, diffusion of electric neutral molecules, ionic current rectification, concentration polarization, nonlinear electrokinetic flow at the micro-nanofluidic interfaces.     

Electrokinetic transport through nanochannels

This article presents a numerical study of the electrokinetic transport phenomena (electroosmosis and electrophoresis) in a three-dimensional nanochannel with a circular cross-section. Due to the nanometer dimensions, the Boltzmann distribution of the ions is not valid in the nanochannels. Therefore, the conventional theories of electrokinetic flow through the microchannels such as Poisson-Boltzmann equation and Helmholtz-Smoluchowski slip velocity approach are no longer applicable. In the current study, a set of coupled partial differential equations including Poisson-Nernst-Plank equation, Navier-Stokes, and continuity equations is solved to find the electric potential field, ionic concentration field, and the velocity field in the three-dimensional nanochannel. The effects of surface electric charge and the radius of nanochannel on the electric potential, liquid flow, and ionic transport are investigated. Unlike the microchannels, the electric potential field, ionic concentration field, and velocity field are strongly size-dependent in nanochannels. The electric potential gradient along the nanochannel also depends on the surface electric charge of the nanochannel. More counter ions than the coions are transported through the nanochannel. The ionic concentration enrichment at the entrance and the exit of the nanochannel is completely evident from the simulation results. The study also shows that the flow velocity in the nanochannel is higher when the surface electric charge is stronger or the radius of the nanochannel is larger.     

A nanochannel array based device for determination of the isoelectric point of confined proteins

A nanochannel array based nanodevice can mimic the biological environments and thus unveil the natural properties, conformation and recognition information of biomolecules such as proteins and DNA in confined spaces. Here we report that porous anodic alumina (PAA) of a highly parallel nanochannel array covalently modified with proteins significantly modulates the transport of a negatively charged probe of ferricyanide due to the electrostatic interactions between the probes and modified nanochannel inner surface. Results show that such electrostatic interaction exists in a wide range of ionic strength from 1 mM to 100 mM in 20 nm nanochannels modified with proteins (hemoglobin, bovine serum albumin, and goat anti-rabbit IgG secondary antibody). In addition, the maximal steady-state flux of the charged probe through the modified nanochannel array is directly related to the ionic strength which determines the electric double layer thickness and solution pH which modulates the nanochannel surface charge. Thus, the modulated mass transport of the probe by solution pH can be used to study the charge properties of the immobilized proteins in nanochannel confined conditions, leading us to obtain the isoelectric point (pI) of the proteins confined in nanochannels. The determined pI values of two known proteins of hemoglobin and bovine serum albumin are close to the ones of the same proteins covalently modified on a 3-mercaptopropionic acid self-assembled monolayer/gold electrode. In addition, the pI of an unknown protein of goat anti-rabbit IgG secondary antibody confined in nanochannels was determined to be 6.3. Finally, the confinement effect of nanochannels on the charge properties of immobilized proteins has been discussed.     

Ion concentration polarization near microchannel-nanochannel interfaces: effect of pH value

This study investigates the effect of the pH value on the ion concentration polarization phenomenon and the nonlinear current-voltage characteristics of a hybrid soda-lime glass micro/nanochannel for a constant KCl salt concentration of about 1 mM. The experimental results show that the electrical conductance of the nanochannel in the Ohmic regime and the critical threshold voltage of the limiting current are both dependent on the pH value of the salt solution when the electrical double layer thickness is considerable in the nanochannel. Specifically, the nanochannel conductance increases and the critical threshold voltage for the limiting current decreases as the pH value is increased. It also suggests that a higher pH value induces a higher surface charge density on the nanochannel walls, and therefore increases both the ionic conductance and the counter-ion flux within the nanochannel.     

Relating chromatographic retention and electrophoretic mobility to the ion distribution within electrosprayed droplets

Ions that are observed in a mass spectrum obtained with electrospray mass spectrometry can be assumed to originate preferentially from ions that have a high distribution to the surface of the charged droplets. In this study, a relation between chromatographic retention and electrophoretic mobility to the ion distribution (derived from measured signal intensities in mass spectra and electrospray current) within electrosprayed droplets for a series of tetraalkylammonium ions, ranging from tetramethyl to tetrapentyl, is presented. Chromatographic retention in a reversed-phase system was taken as a measure of the analyte’s surface activity, which was found to have a large influence on the ion distribution within electrosprayed droplets. In addition, different transport mechanisms such as electrophoretic migration and diffusion can influence the surface partitioning coefficient. The viscosity of the solvent system is affected by the methanol content and will influence both diffusion and ion mobility. However, as diffusion and ion mobility are proportional to each other, we have, in this study, chosen to focus on the ion mobility parameter. It was found that the influence of ion mobility relative to surface activity on the droplet surface partitioning of analyte ions decreases with increasing methanol content. This effect is most probably coupled to the decrease in droplet size caused by the decreased surface tension at increasing methanol content. The same observation was made upon increasing the ionic strength of the solvent system, which is also known to give rise to a decreased initial droplet size. The observed effect of ionic strength on the droplet surface partitioning of analyte ions could also be explained by the fact that at higher ionic strength, a larger number of ions are initially closer to the droplet surface and, thus, the contribution of ionic transport from the bulk liquid to the liquid/air surface interface (jet and droplet surface), attributable to migration or diffusion will decrease.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of ion transport through carbon nanotubes. III. Influence of the nanotube radius, solute concentration, and applied electric fields on the transport properties

The present investigations continue previous research on transport in aqueous ionic solutions through carbon nanotubes. Specifically, the effects of the nanotube radius, solute concentration, and applied external electric fields on the transport properties are investigated in terms of mobilities, currents, and pairing times of the solute ions. The simulated transport features are corroborated with general theoretical results of nanofluidics (such as the linear log-log regime of the nanochannel conductance as function of the solute concentration and the current-voltage curve of the channel). Discontinuities in the partial ionic currents are explained on the basis of a recent theoretical model of quantized ionic conductance in nanopores, developed by Zwolak et al. Correlations between the structural and dynamic properties are established, linking causally the highly structured spatial density profiles, the ion pairing phenomenon and the ionic currents.     

A New Solid-state Nanochannel System for Nanoelectrochemistry at Confinements

Electrochemistry at confinement plays a significant impact on single entity analysis, efficient energy conversion, and nanofluidic transportation. Usually, the confinement is constructed by nanopore-structured materials. However, the physicochemical properties of function elements at inner walls of nanopore are inexplicit due to the limit of technology, which hinders the elegant modifications of nanopores and their related sophisticated applications. To address this issue, Xia and coworkers from China University of Geosciences developed a new solid-state nanochannel system modified with only function elements at outer surface. Explicit regulation of ion transport across this system was realized by the precise measurement of the physicochemical pro-perties of function elements at the outer surface, which was further supported by the numerical simulations. Furthermore, this novel system shows advantages in osmotic energy conversion and universal sensing of targets from ions to cells. The corresponding research has been published in Nature Communications and can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21507-7.     

Ion Selectivity of Water Molecules in Subnanoporous Liquid-Crystalline Water-Treatment Membranes: A Structural Study of Hydrogen Bonding

We demonstrate hydrogen-bonded structures of water in self-organized subnanoporous water treatment membranes obtained using synchrotron-based high-resolution soft X-ray emission spectroscopy. The ion selectivity of these water treatment membranes is usually understood by the size compatibility of nanochannels in the membrane with the Stokes radius of hydrated ions, or by electrostatic interaction between charges inside the nanochannels and such ions. However, based on a comparison between the hydrogen-bonded structures of water molecules in the nanochannels of the water treatment membrane and those surrounding the ions, we propose a definite contribution of structural consistency among the associated hydrogen-bonded water molecules to the ion selectivity. Our observation delivers a novel concept to the design of water treatment membranes where water molecules in the nanochannel can be regarded as a part of the material that controls the ion selectivity.     

Electrokinetic ion transport in confined micro‐nanochannel

In this paper, a confined micronanochannel is presented to concentrate ions in a restricted zone. A general model exploiting the Poisson–Nernst–Plank equations coupled with the Navier–Stokes equation is employed to simulate the electrokinetic ion transport. The influences of the micronanochannel dimension and the surface charge density on the potential distribution, the ion concentration, and the fluid flow are investigated. The numerical results show that the potential drop depends mainly on the nanochannel, instead of the confined channel. Both decreasing the width and increasing the length enhance the ion enrichment performance. For a given nanochannel, ultimate value of ion concentration may be determined by the potential at the center point of the nanochannel. The study also shows that the enrichment stability can be improved by increasing the micronanochannel width, decreasing the micronanochannel length and reducing the surface charge density.