Electrochemically Addressable Nanofluidic Devices based on the Integration of Electroactive Polymers into Solid-State Nanochannels

GREGORIO LAUCIRICA; CAYÓN, VANINA M.; TOUM TERRONES, YAMILI; M. LORENA CORTEZ; MARÍA EUGENIA TOIMIL-MOLARES; CHRISTINA TRAUTMANN; WALDEMAR A. MARMISOLLÉ; OMAR AZZARONI

Belgrado

Congreso; 71th Annual meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry; 2020

International Society of Electrochemistry

Solid-state nanochannels have attracted the interest of the scientific community due to its controlled mass transport properties. Particularly, the ionic transport through these nanometer-sized channels is strongly dependent on the geometry and surface charge of the channel walls. The modulation of the surface charge density allows modifying the permselectivity and consequently the conductance of solid-state nanochannels which has huge implications in fields such as electronic, biosensing, and filtration.1 Considering this fact, there has been an increasing interest in the development of nanofluidic devices with the capability of controlling the surface charge density, and therefore the ionic transport, by experimentally controllable stimuli, such as temperature, pH, electrical potential, light, or the presence of an analyte in solution.2 However, most of these conditions are difficult to control in confined spaces. In this context, the electrochemical stimuli-based strategy is especially promising since it enables to regulate the ionic currents by an external and easy to control experimental input. In this sense, the integration of electroactive polymers into solid-state nanochannels offers a suitable option to accomplish this aim. Thus, the use of redox-active bistable molecules that can be switched between different oxidation states by addressing an external electrical potential would allow an easy modulation of the surface charge on the nanochannel walls and, consequently, to govern the nanofluidic readout with a fast and highly efficient response.Within this framework, we present our recent results concerning the integration of electroactive polymers into solid-state nanochannels for developing electrochemically-addressable nanofluidic devices.3?6 We show how the combination of electroactive polymers and solid-state nanochannels can lead to a myriad of new designs of switchable nanofluidic devices with potential applications in different fields such as biosensing, drug delivery, or filtration.