An Open Pit Nanofluidic Tool: Localized Chemistry Assisted by Mesoporous Thin Film Infiltration

BELLINO, MARTÍN G.; BERLI, CLAUDIO L. A.; MERCURI, MAGALÍ; PIERPAULI, KARINA A.

ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Año: 2017 vol. 9 p. 16679 - 16684

1944-8244

Nanofluidics based on nanoscopic porous structures emerges as a next evolutionary milestone in the construction of versatile nanodevices with unprecedented applications. However, the straightforward development of nanofluidicallyinterconnected systems is crucial for the production of practicaldevices. Here, we demonstrate that spontaneous infiltration into supramolecularly template mesoporous oxide films at the edge of a sessile drop in open air can be handled to connect pairs of landmarks. The liquids from the drops can then join through the nanoporous network to guide a localized chemical reaction at the nanofluid-front interface. This method, here named ?open-pit?nanofluidics, allows mixing reagents from nanofluidically connected droplet-reservoirs that can be used as reactors to conduct reactions and precipitation processes.From the fundamental point of view, the work contributes to unveil subtle phenomena during spontaneous infiltration of fluids in bodies with nanoscale dimensions, such as the front broadening effect and the oscillatory behavior of the infiltration-evaporation front. The approachhas distinctive advantages such as easy fabrication, low cost, andfacility of scaling up for the future development of ultra-sensible detection, controlled nanomaterial synthesis, and novel patterning methods.