"Manipulation and Sensing of Ions and Molecules in Nanofluidic Devices"

Rohit Karnik, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Patterning of molecules or surface properties inside nanofluidic channels is important for flow control and integration of different functions in a single device. A new method of diffusion-limited patterning (DLP) that exploits the high surface area-to-volume ratio in nanofluidic channels was developed. A nanofluidic diode that rectifies ionic current was fabricated using DLP to illustrate flow control with surface charge patterning. The fabrication technique is amenable to integration and making networks of channels. Fluidic systems incorporating devices developed in this work may expand the capabilities of current microfluidic and nanofluidic technologies for applications in biochemical processing and analysis.