Tuning the Probe-Bilayer Architecture of Silver Nanoneedle-based Ion Channel Probes

Ion channel probes, as one of the ion channel platforms, provide an appealing opportunity to perform localized detection with a high precision level. These probes come basically in two classes: glass and metal. While the glass-based probes showed the potential to be employed for molecular sensing and chemical imaging, these probes still suffer from limited resolution and lack of control over protein insertion. On the other hand, metal-based nanoneedle probes (gold and silver) have been recently developed to allow reducing probe dimensions to the nanoscale geometry. More specifically, silver probes are preferable owing to their ability to mitigate the channel current decay observed with gold probes and provide a stable DC channel current. However, there are still some challenges related to the probe design and bilayer curvature that render such probes insensitive to small changes in the tip-substrate distance. Herein, we introduce two main pathways to control the probe-bilayer architecture; the first is by altering the probe shape and geometry during the fabrication process of silver probes. The second pathway is by altering the surface characteristics of the silver probe via an electrophoretic deposition process. Our findings reveal that varying the electrochemical etching parameters results in different probe geometries and producing sharper tips with a 2-fold diameter reduction. In addition, the electrophoretic deposition of a cathodic paint on the silver nanoneedle surface led to a miniaturized exposed silver tip that enables the formation of a confined bilayer. We further investigated the characteristics of bilayers supported on both the sharper nanoneedles and the HSR-coated silver probes produced by controlling the etching conditions and electrodeposition process, respectively. We believe this work paves the way to rationally design silver nanoneedle ion channel probes, which are well suited for localized molecular sensing and chemical imaging.