A Bio‐inspired Potassium and pH Responsive Double‐gated Nanochannel

Abstract

Bio‐inspired nanochannels have emerged as an interface to mimic the functionalities of biological nanochannels. One remaining challenge is to develop double‐gated nanochannels with dual response, which can regulate the ion transport direction by alternately opening and closing the two gates. In this work, a bio‐inspired potassium and pH responsive double‐gated nanosystem is presented, constructed through immobilizing C‐quadruplex and G‐quadruplex DNA molecules onto the top and bottom tip side of a cigar‐shaped nanochannel, respectively. It is demonstrated that the two gates of the nanochannel can be opened and closed alternately/simultaneously. This phenomenon results from the attached DNA conformational transition caused by adjusting the concentrations of potassium ion and proton. This design is believed to be the first example of dual‐responsive double‐gated nanosystem, and paves a new way to investigate more intelligent bio‐inspired nanofluidic system.