Issue 34, 2022

Pushing the limits of nanopore transport performance by polymer functionalization

Abstract

Inspired by the design and performance of biological pores, polymer functionalization of nanopores has emerged as an evolving field to advance transport performance within the last few years. This feature article outlines developments in nanopore functionalization and the resulting transport performance including gating based on electrostatic interaction, wettability and ligand binding, gradual transport controlled by polymerization as well as functionalization-based asymmetric nanopore and nanoporous material design going towards the transport direction. Pushing the limits of nanopore transport performance and thus reducing the performance gap between biological and technological pores is strongly related to advances in polymerization chemistry and their translation into nanopore functionalization. Thereby, the effect of the spatial confinement has to be considered for polymer functionalization as well as for transport regulation, and mechanistic understanding is strongly increased by combining experiment and theory. A full mechanistic understanding together with highly precise nanopore structure design and polymer functionalization is not only expected to improve existing application of nanoporous materials but also opens the door to new technologies. The latter might include out of equilibrium devices, ionic circuits, or machine learning based sensors.

Graphical abstract: Pushing the limits of nanopore transport performance by polymer functionalization

Article information

Article type
Feature Article
Submitted
25 feb 2022
Accepted
25 mar 2022
First published
08 apr 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Commun., 2022,58, 5188-5204

Pushing the limits of nanopore transport performance by polymer functionalization

R. Pardehkhorram and A. Andrieu-Brunsen, Chem. Commun., 2022, 58, 5188 DOI: 10.1039/D2CC01164F

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