CHED 498 |
| The topic of ion transport through synthetic nanopores has attracted the interest of researchers from various scientific fields. Nanopores have many potential uses, such as serving as the basis for sensors of a variety of biological molecules. Also, nanopores and channels that exist in biological cells are fundamental to several physiological processes found in living organisms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the transport properties of a single nanopore in a polymer film with the presence of sub-milimolar concentrations of cobalt ions. These nanopores were produced by the track-etching technique whereby a polymer film (in our case polyethylene terephthtalate) is irradiated with energetic heavy ions and the resulting tracks are etched with various chemicals to form an asymmetric nanopore. We worked with single conical nanopores obtained by etching one side of the irradiated films with 9 M NaOH. Once the pores were etched, current-voltage (I-V) curves and signals of ion current over time were recorded in the range of voltages from -1V to +1V. The results show that cobalt acetate in sub-milimolar concentrations consistently produces characteristic ion current fluctuations and oscillations in certain voltage ranges. These ion current fluctuations are voltage-dependent, and resemble those found in biological voltage-gated channels. The result of cobalt producing controlled current instabilities is important, because it indicates a possible potential for single polymer nanopores to be used as sensors for different molecules in the future. |
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Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Nanotechnology
11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Monday, March 26, 2007 Hyatt Regency Chicago -- Riverside Center, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |