Optoelectronic control of surface charge and translocation dynamics in solid-state nanopores

Abstract

Nanopores can be used to detect and analyse biomolecules. However, controlling and tuning the translocation speed of molecules through a pore is difficult, limiting the wider application of these sensors. Here we show that low-power visible light can be used to control surface charge in solid-state nanopores and can influence the translocation dynamics of DNA and proteins. We find that laser light precisely focused at a nanopore can induce reversible negative surface charge densities as high as 1 C/m2, and that the effect is tuneable on sub-millisecond timescales by adjusting the photon density. By modulating surface charge, we can control the amount of electro-osmotic flow through the nanopore, which affects the speed of translocating biomolecules. In particular, a few mW of green light can reduce the translocation speed of double-stranded DNA by more than an order of magnitude and the translocation speed of small globular proteins such as ubiquitin by more than two orders of magnitude. The laser light can also be used to unclog blocked pores. Finally, we discuss a mechanism to account for the observed optoelectronic phenomenon.