title: DNA translocation through an array of kinked nanopores.
abstract: Synthetic solid-state nanopores are being intensively investigated as single-molecule sensors for detection and characterization of DNA, RNA and proteins. This field has been inspired by the exquisite selectivity and flux demonstrated by natural biological channels and the dream of emulating these behaviours in more robust synthetic materials that are more readily integrated into practical devices. So far, the guided etching of polymer films, focused ion-beam sculpting, and electron-beam lithography and tuning of silicon nitride membranes have emerged as three promising approaches to define synthetic solid-state pores with sub-nanometre resolution. These procedures have in common the formation of nominally cylindrical or conical pores aligned normal to the membrane surface. Here we report the formation of 'kinked' silica nanopores, using evaporation-induced self-assembly, and their further tuning and chemical derivatization using atomic-layer deposition. Compared with 'straight through' proteinaceous nanopores of comparable dimensions, kinked nanopores exhibit up to fivefold reduction in translocation velocity, which has been identified as one of the critical issues in DNA sequencing. Additionally, we demonstrate an efficient two-step approach to create a nanopore array exhibiting nearly perfect selectivity for ssDNA over dsDNA. We show that a coarse-grained drift-diffusion theory with a sawtooth-like potential can reasonably describe the velocity and translocation time of DNA through the pore. By control of pore size, length and shape, we capture the main functional behaviours of protein pores in our solid-state nanopore system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Nuclear Engineering and Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, University of New Mexico, 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Zhu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yingbing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Darren R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Dunphy
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Carter
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hodges
authors.forename: Nanguo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xomeritakis
authors.forename: Xiaozhong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Aluru
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Gaik
authors.forename: Hugh W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Hillhouse
authors.forename: C Jeffrey
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Brinker
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000737:chemistry; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D016062:Porosity; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D004247:DNA