Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 28, 2025

A Microfluidic-based Hydrodynamic Trap for Single Particles

A Microfluidic-based Hydrodynamic Trap for Single Particles

Published on: January 21, 2011

Gate Electrodes Enable Tunable Nanofluidic Particle Traps.

Philippe M Nicollier¹, Aaron D Ratschow², Francesca Ruggeri¹

¹IBM Research Europe - Zurich, Säumerstrasse 4, CH-8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

|April 10, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

From Microcurrents to Macrodynamics: Harnessing Mixed Potentials for Large, Tunable Acceleration of Belousov-Zhabotinsky Oscillations.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2026

Same author

Spontaneous Coulomb fissions of drops on lubricated surfaces.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

Graded phononic metamaterials based on scalable microfabrication and design.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Actor-critic networks with analogue memristors mimicking reward-based learning.

Nature machine intelligence·2025

Same author

Convection can enhance the capacitive charging of porous electrodes.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025

Same author

Upstream motion of oil droplets in co-axial Ouzo flow due to Marangoni forces.

Soft matter·2025

Same journal

Accurate Density Functional Theory Forces for Charged Noncovalent Complexes.

The journal of physical chemistry letters·2026

Same journal

Dopant-Centered versus Intersite Synergistic Mechanisms in H<sub>2</sub> Dissociation on Single-Atom Alloys.

The journal of physical chemistry letters·2026

Same journal

Post-Translational Modification as an Allosteric Switch in Hsp90: How Dual Phosphorylation Locks Chaperone Complexes into Hyperstabilized States.

The journal of physical chemistry letters·2026

Same journal

LHCSR1 Functions as a Dimmer Switch for Light Harvesting.

The journal of physical chemistry letters·2026

Same journal

Sparse Linear Surrogates Match Neural Network Potentials on the SPICE Biomolecular Benchmark with Three Orders of Magnitude Smaller Training Sets.

The journal of physical chemistry letters·2026

Same journal

Solid-State NMR Quantification of Brønsted-Lewis Acid Site Cooperativity in Zeolites for Glucose Conversion.

The journal of physical chemistry letters·2026

See all related articles

Researchers developed a new method to control nanoparticle traps using a buried gate electrode, enabling real-time modulation of potential energy. This breakthrough overcomes limitations of static traps for applications in nanofluidics and molecular biology.

Area of Science:

Nanotechnology
Physical Chemistry
Fluid Dynamics

Background:

Controlling nanoscale object location in liquids is crucial for fields like nanofluidics and molecular biology.
Electrostatic fluid traps use wall topography to overcome random Brownian motion, but are static and unmodifiable.
Existing methods lack dynamic control over nanoparticle trapping potentials.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce and demonstrate a novel method for dynamically controlling electrostatic fluid traps.
To enable real-time modulation of potential energy wells for nanoscale object manipulation.
To develop a predictive model for understanding and optimizing controllable nanoparticle traps.

Main Methods:

Fabrication of a fluid trap with a buried gate electrode.

More Related Videos

Optical Trapping of Nanoparticles

Optical Trapping of Nanoparticles

Published on: January 15, 2013

Microfluidic Pneumatic Cages: A Novel Approach for In-chip Crystal Trapping, Manipulation and Controlled Chemical Treatment

Microfluidic Pneumatic Cages: A Novel Approach for In-chip Crystal Trapping, Manipulation and Controlled Chemical Treatment

Published on: July 12, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 28, 2025

A Microfluidic-based Hydrodynamic Trap for Single Particles

A Microfluidic-based Hydrodynamic Trap for Single Particles

Published on: January 21, 2011

Optical Trapping of Nanoparticles

Optical Trapping of Nanoparticles

Published on: January 15, 2013

Microfluidic Pneumatic Cages: A Novel Approach for In-chip Crystal Trapping, Manipulation and Controlled Chemical Treatment

Microfluidic Pneumatic Cages: A Novel Approach for In-chip Crystal Trapping, Manipulation and Controlled Chemical Treatment

Published on: July 12, 2016

Experimental measurement of nanoparticle escape times to quantify potential modulation.

Development of a parameter-free predictive model incorporating surface chemistry and electrostatic fringing.

Main Results:

Demonstrated real-time control of electrostatic nanoparticle traps via a buried gate electrode.
Quantified potential energy modulations of 0.7 kBT and surface potential changes of 50 mV.
Validated experimental findings with a predictive model that accurately reproduces results.

Conclusions:

A new strategy for dynamic control of nanoparticle traps has been successfully demonstrated.
This work paves the way for real-time controllable nanoparticle manipulation systems.
The findings have significant implications for advanced nanofluidic and molecular biology applications.