Nano Letters Publishes Groundbreaking Research on Advances in Fabrication of Nanofluidic Devices

A paper authored by Assistant Professor Shaurya Prakash and Professor Terry Conlisk published March 2, 2015 in Nano Letters is the first to demonstrate a three-state nanoscale field effect switch that could potentially enable an entirely new set of fluid manipulation for novel applications.

The research presents several unique aspects including advances in the fabrication of gated nanofluidic devices and the ability to control net ionic current, opening up exciting possibilities for fluidic logic gates and potential advancements toward artificial ion channels and ion pumps for mimicking biological systems.

Previously, research in nanofluidic devices has focused on flow control by borrowing ideas from biological systems or ‘circuits’ by controlling which ionic and molecular species is transported across cellular structures. “The ability to control ionic current, and by implication electrokinetic flow in an (on/off) switch, is important because it forms what we believe is the first step toward true fluidic logic circuits analogous to solid-state logic circuits,” Prakash said.

The switching behavior is enabled by modulation of electric field and is the first experimental report showing change in the net electric field by systematically controlling the potential applied to the gate electrode.

Nano Letters, part of ACS Publications, is the first to publish papers on fluidtronics.