Electropreconcentration of nanoparticles using a radial micro-nanofluidic device

Abstract

We have developed a radial silicon micro-nanofluidic device in order to investigate strong nanoparticles electropreconcentration. The device is called “ring like” device and exhibits a circular micro-nanojunction. Hundred-nanometer-deep radial nanochannels were fabricated using standard photolithography and etching techniques. Ion permselectivity is one of the major proprieties of nanofluidic devices. Within the influence of an electric field through an ion-selective nanochannel, nanoparticle repulsion and concentration appear at the anodic and cathodic side, respectively. Here, the cathodic preconcentration is exploited to enriched 50-nm nanoparticles samples. Up to 800, enrichment factor is reached in 1 h of experiment. This scheme could be useful for the enrichment of bionanoparticles (such as viruses or exosomes for instance) which can be critical for several biomedical applications.