ELECTROMIGRATION OF CHARGED POLYSTYRENE BEADS THROUGH SILICON NANOPORES FILLED WITH LOW IONIC STRENGTH SOLUTIONS

摘要

In this work we present preliminary results demonstrating the influence of electrical double layer overlap on the electromigration of polystyrene beads (PSB) through an array of 25 cylindrical nanopores. Each of the cylindrical nanopores of the array used in this study is 360nm long with a diameter of 90nm. We observe frequent Coulter events for solutions of higher ionic strength and absence of Coulter events at low ionic strength solution. At higher ionic strengths, the electric double layers in the nanopore are thin and ion transport through the nanopore follows the bulk behavior of the ionic solution. For solutions of lower ionic strength, the electric double layers are comparable to the nanopore dimensions and start to overlap, suggesting surface charge interaction with the polystyrene beads that pass through the nanopore. The work continues towards detailed statistical analysis of the characteristic events observed for different concentrations.