A Closed-Type Wireless Nanopore Electrode for Analyzing Single Nanoparticles

Summary

Here, we present a protocol for fabrication of a closed-type wireless nanopore electrode and subsequent electrochemical measurement of single nanoparticle collisions.

Abstract

Measuring the intrinsic features of single nanoparticles by nanoelectrochemistry holds deep fundamental importance and has potential impacts in nanoscience. However, electrochemically analyzing single nanoparticles is challenging, as the sensing nanointerface is uncontrollable. To address this challenge, we describe here the fabrication and characterization of a closed-type wireless nanopore electrode (WNE) that exhibits a highly controllable morphology and outstanding reproducibility. The facile fabrication of WNE enables the preparation of well-defined nanoelectrodes in a general chemistry laboratory without the use of a clean room and expensive equipment. One application of a 30 nm closed-type WNE in analysis of single gold nanoparticles in the mixture is also highlighted, which shows a high current resolution of 0.6 pA and high temporal resolution of 0.01 ms. Accompanied by their excellent morphology and small diameters, more potential applications of closed-type WNEs can be expanded from nanoparticle characterization to single molecule/ion detection and single-cell probing.

Introduction

Nanoparticles have attracted tremendous attention due to diverse features such as their catalytic ability, particular optical features, electroactivity, and high surface-to-volume ratios^1,2,3,4. Electrochemical analysis of single nanoparticles is a direct method for understanding the intrinsic chemical and electrochemical processes at the nanoscale level. To achieve highly sensitive measurements of single nanoparticles, two electrochemical approaches have been previously applied to read out nanoparticle information from current responses

Protocol

1. Preparation of Solutions

NOTE: Pay attention to general safety precautions for all chemicals. Dispose of chemicals in a fume hood, and wear gloves, goggles, and a lab coat. Keep flammable liquids away from fire or sparks. All aqueous solutions were prepared using ultrapure water (18.2 MΩ cm at 25 °C). The prepared solutions were filtered using a 0.22 μm pore-size filter.

1. Preparation of KCl solution
   1. Dissolve 0.074 g of potassium chlorid.......

Discussion

Fabrication of a well-defined nanopipette is the first step in the closed-type WNE fabrication process. By focusing a CO₂ laser onto the center of the capillary, one capillary separates into two symmetrical nanopipettes with nanoscale conical tips. The diameter is easily controlled, ranging from 30-200 nm, by adjusting the parameters of the laser puller. It is noted that the parameters for pulling can vary for different pipette pullers. The environmental temperature and humidity can also influence the final di.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Acetone	Sigma-Aldrich	650501	Highly flammable and volatile
Analytical balance	Mettler Toledo	ME104E
Axopatch 200B amplifier	Molecular Devices
Blu-Tack reusable adhesive	Bostik
Centrifuge tube	Corning Inc.		Centrifuge Tubes with CentriStar Cap, 15 ml
Chloroauric acid	Energy Chemical	E0601760010	HAuCl4
Clampfit 10.4 software	Molecular Devices
Digidata 1550A digitizer	Molecular Devices
DS Fi1c true-color CCD camera	Nikon
Ecoflex 5 Addtion cure silicone rubber	Smooth-On	17050377
Eppendorf Reference 2 pipettes	Eppendorf	492000904	10, 100 and 1000 µL
Ethanol	Sigma-Aldrich	24102	Highly flammable and volatile
Faraday cage			Copper
iXon 888 EMCCD	Andor
Microcentrifuge tubes	Axygen Scientific		0.6, 1.5 and 2.0 mL
Microloader	Eppendorf	5242 956.003	20 µL
Microscope Cover Glass	Fisher Scientific	LOT 16938	20 mm*60 mm-1 mm thick
Milli-Q water purifier	Millipore	SIMS00000	Denton Electron Beam Evaporator
P-2000 laser puller	Sutter Instrument
Pipette tips	Axygen Scientific		10, 200 and 1,000 µL
Potassium chloride,+D25+A2:F2+A2:F25	Sigma Aldrich	P9333-500G	KCl
Quartz pipettes	Sutter	QF100-50-7.5	O.D.:1.0 mm, I.D.:0.5 mm, 75 mm length
Refrigerator	Siemens
Silicone thinner	Smooth-On	1506330
Silver wire	Alfa Aesar	11466
Sodium borohydride,	Tianlian Chem. Tech.	71320	NaBH4
Ti-U inverted dark-field microscope	Nikon