Solid-state nanopores have emerged as useful single-molecule sensors for DNA and proteins. A novel and simple technique for solid-state nanopore fabrication is reported here. The process involves direct thermal heating of 100 to 300 nm nanopores, made by focused ion beam (FIB) milling in free-standing membranes. Direct heating results in shrinking of the silicon dioxide nanopores. The free-stan...

With strides in stem cell biology, cell engineering and molecular therapy, the transplantation of cells to produce therapeutic molecules endogenously is an attractive and achievable alternative to the use of exogenous drugs. The encapsulation of such cell transplants in semi-permeable, nanoporous constructs is often required to protect them from immune attack and to prevent their proliferation ...

By measuring the ion concentration in a pressure-induced infiltration experiment on a hydrophobic Zeolite Socony Mobil-5, it is found that the nanopore wall has a strong ion repelling effect. When the initial ion concentration is relatively low, only water molecules can enter the nanopores. Once the initial ion concentration is relatively high, ions can infiltrate into the nanopores, but the ef...

Nanopores can serve as high throughput, single molecule sensing devices that provide insight into the distribution of static and dynamic molecular activities, properties, or interactions. We have studied double stranded DNA electrophoretic transport dynamics through fabricated nanopores in silicon nitride. A fabricated pore enables us to interrogate a broader range of molecules with a wider ran...

We use large scale ab-initio calculations to describe electronic structures of graphene, graphene nanoribbons, and carbon nanotubes periodically perforated with nanopores. We disclose common features of these systems and develop a unified picture that permits us to analytically predict and systematically characterize metal-semiconductor transitions in nanocarbons with superlattices of nanopores...

Owing to the potential use for real personalized genome sequencing, DNA sequencing with solid-state nanopores has been investigated intensively in recent time. However, the area still confronts problems and challenges. In this work, we present a brief overview of computational studies of key issues in DNA sequencing with solid-state nanopores by addressing the progress made in the last few year...

It is shown that nanopores are formed during desorption of NH3 from Mg(NH3)6Cl2, which has been proposed as a hydrogen storage material. The system of nanopores facilitates the transport of desorbed ammonia away from the interior of large volumes of compacted storage material. DFT calculations show that there exists a continuous path from the initial Mg(NH3)6Cl2 material to MgCl2 that does not ...

Nanopores are powerful single-molecule sensors with nanometer scale dimensions suitable for detection, quantification, and characterization of nucleic acids and proteins. Beyond sequencing applications, both biological and solid-state nanopores hold great promise as tools for studying the biophysical properties of RNA. In this review, we highlight selected landmark nanopore studies with regards...

Graphene nanopores (GNPs) hold great promise as building blocks for electronic circuitry and sensors for biological and chemical sensing applications. Methods to design graphene nanopores that achieve desirable conduction performance and sensing characteristics have not been previously described. Here we present a study of the quantum transport properties of GNPs created by drilling pores in ar...

An important issue in nanopore sensing is to construct stable and versatile sensors that can discriminate analytes with minute differences. Here we report a means of creating nanopores that comprise ultrashort single-walled carbon nanotubes inserted into a lipid bilayer. We investigate the ion transport and DNA translocation through single-walled carbon nanotube nanopores and find that our resu...