Nanopore-Based Protein Deceleration and Sensing Using Graphene/Si₃N₄ Dual Membrane Cavity

Sequencing of protein with nanopores has emerged as a powerful tool offering rapid readout, high accuracy, low cost, and portability. There is an urgent need to improve the sensing accuracy of nanopores to effectively realize protein sequencing. However, controlling protein translocation rates remains a significant challenge. This study designed a graphene/Si₃N₄ dual membrane cavity system to explore potential solutions for enhancing protein sequencing accuracy and efficiency. Charge regulation and cavity structure were employed to slow down the translocation rate of peptides in the Si₃N₄ nanopore. The proposed Si₃N₄ toroidal cavity structure successfully reduces peptide translocation rates by introducing physical steric hindrance and enhancing van der Waals adsorption. This structure not only substantially prolongs peptide residence time in the sensing region but also maintains excellent signal resolution, offering a potential approach to address the high bandwidth demands in single-molecule protein sequencing. The findings contribute to achieving high-resolution, high-throughput protein sequencing and advance the field of proteomics.