Voltage-gated nanofluidic devices for protein capture, concentration, and release

A nanofluidic device with spatially, non-uniformly distributed gate electrodes is reported. In this nanofluidic architecture, multiple nanochannels connect microfluidic reservoirs for the formation of a planar, hybrid microfluidic-nanofluidic device. The gate electrodes are individually addressable, fluidically isolated, and enable a non-uniform electric field distribution within the nanochannels permitting the capture of proteins and a local increase in their concentration. The removal of the gate potential allows the model protein, bovine serum albumin, to move away from the electrodes after concentration at the electrodes for the release of the captured protein. A maximum increase in the protein concentration of nearly an order of magnitude was observed as evaluated by fluorescence intensity.