Attoliter-scale dispensing in nanofluidic channels.

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Analytical Chemistry
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Advancing fabrication techniques enable the development of functional fluidic devices at the nanometer scale for chemical analysis.
• Nanochannels offer unique properties for high-resolution chemical and biological analyses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate precise fluid dispensing in nanochannels with ultra-low injection volumes.
• To evaluate different sample dispensing schemes for nanochannel-based analytical devices.
• To investigate the feasibility of electrokinetic transport for rapid fluid manipulation in nanochannels.

Main Methods:

• Utilized hybrid poly(dimethylsiloxane) and glass nanochannels with dimensions of 130 nm depth and either 580 nm or 670 nm width.
• Implemented two sample dispensing schemes: modified pinched and gated injections.
• Employed electrokinetic transport by applying voltages (up to 10 V) without amplification.

Main Results:

• Achieved precise fluid dispensing in nanochannels with injection volumes ranging from 42 attoliters (aL) to 4.1 femtoliters (fL).
• Demonstrated successful operation of modified pinched and gated injection schemes within the nanochannels.
• Generated electric field strengths of 0.2-2 kV/cm, enabling rapid dispensing and analysis within 10-100 milliseconds.

Conclusions:

• The study successfully demonstrates highly accurate fluid dispensing at the attoliter to femtoliter scale within nanochannels.
• The developed methods using hybrid nanochannels and electrokinetic transport are suitable for rapid chemical analysis.
• This work paves the way for advanced nano-scale analytical devices with improved sensitivity and speed.