Nanomechanical Sensing for Mass Flow Control in Nanowire-Based Open Nanofluidic Systems

Open nanofluidic systems, where liquids flow along the outer surface of nanoscale structures, provide otherwise unfeasible capabilities for extremely miniaturized liquid handling applications. A critical step toward fully functional applications is to obtain quantitative mass flow control. We demons...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS nano 2023-11, Vol.17 (21), p.21044-21055
Main Authors: Escobar, Javier E., Molina, Juan, Gil-Santos, Eduardo, Ruz, José J., Malvar, Óscar, Kosaka, Priscila M., Tamayo, Javier, San Paulo, Álvaro, Calleja, Montserrat
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Open nanofluidic systems, where liquids flow along the outer surface of nanoscale structures, provide otherwise unfeasible capabilities for extremely miniaturized liquid handling applications. A critical step toward fully functional applications is to obtain quantitative mass flow control. We demonstrate the application of nanomechanical sensing for this purpose by integrating voltage-driven liquid flow along nanowire open channels with mass detection based on flexural resonators. This approach is validated by assembling the nanowires with microcantilever resonators, enabling high-precision control of larger flows, and by using the nanowires as resonators themselves, allowing extremely small liquid volume handling. Both implementations are demonstrated by characterizing voltage-driven flow of ionic liquids along the surface of the nanowires. We find a voltage range where mass flow rate follows a nonlinear monotonic increase, establishing a steady flow regime for which we show mass flow control at rates from below 1 ag/s to above 100 fg/s and precise liquid handling down to the zeptoliter scale. The observed behavior of mass flow rate is consistent with a voltage-induced transition from static wetting to dynamic spreading as the mechanism underlying liquid transport along the nanowires.
ISSN:1936-0851
1936-086X
DOI:10.1021/acsnano.3c04020