Ion and Hydrodynamic Translucency in 1D van der Waals Heterostructured Boron-Nitride Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

An unresolved challenge in nanofluidics is tuning ion selectivity and hydrodynamic transport in pores, particularly for those with diameters larger than a nanometer. In contrast to conventional strategies that focus on changing surface functionalization or confinement degree by varying the radial dimension of the pores, we explore a unique approach for manipulating ion selectivity and hydrodynamic flow enhancement by externally coating single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with a few layers of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). For van der Waals heterostructured BN-SWCNTs, we observed a 9-fold increase in cation selectivity for K+ versus Cl- compared to pristine SWCNTs of the same 2.2 nm diameter, while hydrodynamic slip lengths decreased by more than an order of magnitude. These results suggest that the single-layer graphene inner surface may be translucent to charge-regulation and hydrodynamic-slip effects arising from h-BN on the outside of the SWCNT. Such 1D heterostructures could serve as synthetic platforms with tunable properties for exploring distinct nanofluidic phenomena and their potential applications.

Efficient electrospray deposition of surfaces smaller than the spray plume

Electrospray deposition (ESD) is a promising technique for depositing micro-/nano-scale droplets and particles with high quality and repeatability. It is particularly attractive for surface coating of costly and delicate biomaterials and bioactive compounds. While high efficiency of ESD has only been successfully demonstrated for spraying surfaces larger than the spray plume, this work extends its utility to smaller surfaces. It is shown that by architecting the local "charge landscape", ESD coatings of surfaces smaller than plume size can be achieved. Efficiency approaching 100% is demonstrated with multiple model materials, including biocompatible polymers, proteins, and bioactive small molecules, on both flat and microneedle array targets. UV-visible spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography measurements validate the high efficiency and quality of the sprayed material. Here, we show how this process is an efficient and more competitive alternative to other conformal coating mechanisms, such as dip coating or inkjet printing, for micro-engineered applications.

Fast Water Transport through Subnanometer Diameter Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Membranes

Small-diameter carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have outstanding mass-transport properties, especially enhanced water flow. Here, we report on water transport through the first macroscopic membranes with vertically oriented, subnanometer (0.8 nm) CNT pores, made by a scalable, solution-based method with electric-field alignment of bulk-grown single-wall CNTs (SWCNTs). After plasma etching to open pores, vertically aligned CNTs served as the primary pathway for liquid-water transport. The CNT membranes showed fast pressure-driven water transport, with up to 10⁵-fold enhancement compared to no-slip Hagen-Poiseuille flow. Comparing 0.8 and 3 nm CNTs, we found that the hydrodynamic slip lengths increased with decreasing nanotube diameter, reaching 8.5 μm for the smaller-diameter CNTs. The results suggest that pressure-driven water transport in small-diameter CNTs is increasingly dominated by entrance resistance, thus becoming independent of nanotube length. Scalably fabricated membranes incorporating vertically aligned subnanometer CNT pores could have applications in water filtration, desalination, and energy harvesting.

Novel suction-based in vivo cutaneous DNA transfection platform

This work reports a suction-based cutaneous delivery method for in vivo DNA transfection. Following intradermal Mantoux injection of plasmid DNA in a rat model, a moderate negative pressure is applied to the injection site, a technique similar to Chinese báguàn and Middle Eastern hijama cupping therapies. Strong GFP expression was demonstrated with pEGFP-N1 plasmids where fluorescence was observed as early as 1 hour after dosing. Modeling indicates a strong correlation between focal strain/stress and expression patterns. The absence of visible and/or histological tissue injury contrasts with current in vivo transfection systems such as electroporation. Specific utility was demonstrated with a synthetic SARS-CoV-2 DNA vaccine, which generated host humoral immune response in rats with notable antibody production. This method enables an easy-to-use, cost-effective, and highly scalable platform for both laboratorial transfection needs and clinical applications for nucleic acid–based therapeutics and vaccines.

Graphene-reinforced polymer matrix composites fabricated by in situ shear exfoliation of graphite in polymer solution: processing, rheology, microstructure, and properties

Effective methods are needed to fabricate the next generation of high-performance graphene-reinforced polymer matrix composites (G-PMCs). In this work, a versatile and fundamental process is demonstrated to produce high-quality graphene-polymethylmethacrylate (G-PMMA) composites via in situ shear exfoliation of well-crystallized graphite particles loaded in highly-viscous liquid PMMA/acetone solutions into graphene nanoflakes using a concentric-cylinder shearing device. Unlike other methods where graphene is added externally to the polymer and mixed, our technique is a single step process where as-exfoliated graphene can bond directly with the polymer with no contamination/handling. The setup also allows for the investigation of the rheology of exfoliation and dispersion, providing process understanding in the attainment of the subsequently heat injection-molded and solidified G-PMC, essential for future manufacturing scalability, optimization, and repeatability. High PMMA/acetone concentration correlates to high mixture viscosity, which at large strain rates results in very-high shear stresses, producing a large number of mechanically-exfoliated flakes, as confirmed by liquid-phase UV-visible spectral analysis. Raman spectroscopy and other imaging evince that single- and bi-layer graphene are readily achieved. Nevertheless, a limit is reached at high mixtures viscosities where the process becomes unstable as non-Newtonian fluid behavior (e.g. viscoelastic) dominates the system. Characterization of microstructure, morphology, and properties of this new class of nanostructured composites reveals interesting trends. Observations by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and helium ion microscopy of the manufactured G-PMCs show uniform distributions of unadulterated, well-bonded, discontinuous, graphene nanoflakes in a PMMA matrix, which enhances stiffness and strength via a load-transfer mechanism. Elastic modulus of 5.193 GPa and hardness of 0.265 GPa are achieved through processing at 0.7 g ml^-1 of acetone/PMMA for 1% wt. starting graphite loading when injected into a sample mold at 200 °C. Mechanical properties exhibit 31% and 28.6% enhancement in elastic modulus and hardness, respectively, as measured by nano-indentation.

Single-cell mechanical analysis and tension quantification via electrodeformation relaxation

The mechanical behavior and cortical tension of single cells are analyzed using electrodeformation relaxation. Four types of cells, namely, MCF-10A, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and GBM, are studied, with pulse durations ranging from 0.01 to 10 s. Mechanical response in the long-pulse regime is characterized by a power-law behavior, consistent with soft glassy rheology resulting from unbinding events within the cortex network. In the subsecond short-pulse regime, a single timescale well describes the process and indicates the naive tensioned (prestressed) state of the cortex with minimal force-induced alteration. A mathematical model is employed and the simple ellipsoidal geometry allows for use of an analytical solution to extract the cortical tension. At the shortest pulse of 0.01 s, tensions for all four cell types are on the order of 10^{-2} N/m.

The effects of electroporation buffer composition on cell viability and electro-transfection efficiency

Electroporation is an electro-physical, non-viral approach to perform DNA, RNA, and protein transfections of cells. Upon application of an electric field, the cell membrane is compromised, allowing the delivery of exogenous materials into cells. Cell viability and electro-transfection efficiency (eTE) are dependent on various experimental factors, including pulse waveform, vector concentration, cell type/density, and electroporation buffer properties. In this work, the effects of buffer composition on cell viability and eTE were systematically explored for plasmid DNA encoding green fluorescent protein following electroporation of 3T3 fibroblasts. A HEPES-based buffer was used in conjunction with various salts and sugars to modulate conductivity and osmolality, respectively. Pulse applications were chosen to maintain constant applied electrical energy (J) or total charge flux (C/m2). The energy of the pulse application primarily dictated cell viability, with Mg2+-based buffers expanding the reversible electroporation range. The enhancement of viability with Mg2+-based buffers led to the hypothesis that this enhancement is due to ATPase activation via re-establishing ionic homeostasis. We show preliminary evidence for this mechanism by demonstrating that the enhanced viability is eliminated by introducing lidocaine, an ATPase inhibitor. However, Mg2+ also hinders eTE compared to K+-based buffers. Collectively, the results demonstrate that the rational selection of pulsing conditions and buffer compositions are critical for the design of electroporation protocols to maximize viability and eTE.

Charged Layered Boron Nitride-Nanoflake Membranes for Efficient Ion Separation and Water Purification

2D layered nanomaterials have attracted considerable attention for their potential for highly efficient separations, among other applications. Here, a 2D lamellar membrane synthesized using hexagonal boron nitride nanoflakes (h-BNF) for highly efficient ion separation is reported. The ion-rejection performance and the water permeance of the membrane as a function of the ionic radius, ion valance, and solution pH are investigated. The nonfunctionalized h-BNF membranes show excellent ion rejection for small sized salt ions as well as for anionic dyes (>97%) while maintaining a high water permeability, ≈1.0 × 10^-3 L m m^-2 h^-1 bar^-1 ). Experiments show that the ion-rejection performance of the membrane can be tuned by changing the solution pH. The results also suggest that the rejection is influenced by the ionic size and the electrostatic repulsion between fixed negative charges on the BN surface and the mobile ions, and is consistent with the Donnan equilibrium model. These simple-to-fabricate h-BNF membranes show a unique combination of excellent ion selectivity and high permeability compared to other 2D membranes.

Contactless Electrical and Structural Characterization of Semiconductor Nanowires with Axially Modulated Doping Profiles

Efficient characterization of semiconductor nanowires having complex dopant profiles or heterostructures is critical to fully understand these materials and the devices built from them. Existing electrical characterization techniques are slow and laborious, particularly for multisegment nanowires, and impede the statistical understanding of highly variable samples. Here, it is shown that electro-orientation spectroscopy (EOS)-a high-throughput, noncontact method for statistically characterizing the electrical properties of entire nanowire ensembles-can determine the conductivity and dimensions of two distinct segments in individual Si nanowires with axially encoded dopant profiles. This analysis combines experimental measurements and computational simulations to determine the electrical conductivity of the nominally undoped segment of two-segment Si nanowires, as well as the ratio of the segment lengths. The efficacy of this approach is demonstrated by comparing results generated by EOS with conventional four-point-probe measurements. This work provides new insights into the control and variability of semiconductor nanowires for electronic applications and is a critical first step toward the high-throughput interrogation of complete nanowire-based devices.

Automated characterization and assembly of individual nanowires for device fabrication

The automated sorting and positioning of nanowires and nanotubes is essential to enabling the scalable manufacturing of nanodevices for a variety of applications. However, two fundamental challenges still remain: (i) automated placement of individual nanostructures in precise locations, and (ii) the characterization and sorting of highly variable nanomaterials to construct well-controlled nanodevices. Here, we propose and demonstrate an integrated, electric-field based method for the simultaneous automated characterization, manipulation, and assembly of nanowires (ACMAN) with selectable electrical conductivities into nanodevices. We combine contactless and solution-based electro-orientation spectroscopy and electrophoresis-based motion-control, planning and manipulation strategies to simultaneously characterize and manipulate multiple individual nanowires. These nanowires can be selected according to their electrical characteristics and precisely positioned at different locations in a low-conductivity liquid to form functional nanodevices with desired electrical properties. We validate the ACMAN design by assembling field-effect transistors (FETs) with silicon nanowires of selected electrical conductivities. The design scheme provides a key enabling technology for the scalable, automated sorting and assembly of nanowires and nanotubes to build functional nanodevices.

High-throughput electrical measurement and microfluidic sorting of semiconductor nanowires

Existing nanowire electrical characterization tools not only are expensive and require sophisticated facilities, but are far too slow to enable statistical characterization of highly variable samples. They are also generally not compatible with further sorting and processing of nanowires. Here, we demonstrate a high-throughput, solution-based electro-orientation-spectroscopy (EOS) method, which is capable of automated electrical characterization of individual nanowires by direct optical visualization of their alignment behavior under spatially uniform electric fields of different frequencies. We demonstrate that EOS can quantitatively characterize the electrical conductivities of nanowires over a 6-order-of-magnitude range (10(-5) to 10 S m(-1), corresponding to typical carrier densities of 10(10)-10(16) cm(-3)), with different fluids used to suspend the nanowires. By implementing EOS in a simple microfluidic device, continuous electrical characterization is achieved, and the sorting of nanowires is demonstrated as a proof-of-concept. With measurement speeds two orders of magnitude faster than direct-contact methods, the automated EOS instrument enables for the first time the statistical characterization of highly variable 1D nanomaterials.

Contactless Determination of Electrical Conductivity of One-Dimensional Nanomaterials by Solution-Based Electro-orientation Spectroscopy

Nanowires of the same composition, and even fabricated within the same batch, often exhibit electrical conductivities that can vary by orders of magnitude. Unfortunately, existing electrical characterization methods are time-consuming, making the statistical survey of highly variable samples essentially impractical. Here, we demonstrate a contactless, solution-based method to efficiently measure the electrical conductivity of 1D nanomaterials based on their transient alignment behavior in ac electric fields of different frequencies. Comparison with direct transport measurements by probe-based scanning tunneling microscopy shows that electro-orientation spectroscopy can quantitatively measure nanowire conductivity over a 5-order-of-magnitude range, 10(-5)-1 Ω(-1) m(-1) (corresponding to resistivities in the range 10(2)-10(7) Ω·cm). With this method, we statistically characterize the conductivity of a variety of nanowires and find significant variability in silicon nanowires grown by metal-assisted chemical etching from the same wafer. We also find that the active carrier concentration of n-type silicon nanowires is greatly reduced by surface traps and that surface passivation increases the effective conductivity by an order of magnitude. This simple method makes electrical characterization of insulating and semiconducting 1D nanomaterials far more efficient and accessible to more researchers than current approaches. Electro-orientation spectroscopy also has the potential to be integrated with other solution-based methods for the high-throughput sorting and manipulation of 1D nanomaterials for postgrowth device assembly.

Transport, resealing, and re-poration dynamics of two-pulse electroporation-mediated molecular delivery

Electroporation is of interest for many drug-delivery and gene-therapy applications. Prior studies have shown that a two-pulse-electroporation protocol consisting of a short-duration, high-voltage first pulse followed by a longer, low-voltage second pulse can increase delivery efficiency and preserve viability. In this work the effects of the field strength of the first and second pulses and the inter-pulse delay time on the delivery of two different-sized Fluorescein-Dextran (FD) conjugates are investigated. A series of two-pulse-electroporation experiments were performed on 3T3-mouse fibroblast cells, with an alternating-current first pulse to permeabilize the cell, followed by a direct-current second pulse. The protocols were rationally designed to best separate the mechanisms of permeabilization and electrophoretic transport. The results showed that the delivery of FD varied strongly with the strength of the first pulse and the size of the target molecule. The delivered FD concentration also decreased linearly with the logarithm of the inter-pulse delay. The data indicate that membrane resealing after electropermeabilization occurs rapidly, but that a non-negligible fraction of the pores can be reopened by the second pulse for delay times on the order of hundreds of seconds. The role of the second pulse is hypothesized to be more than just electrophoresis, with a minimum threshold field strength required to reopen nano-sized pores or defects remaining from the first pulse. These results suggest that membrane electroporation, sealing, and re-poration is a complex process that has both short-term and long-term components, which may in part explain the wide variation in membrane-resealing times reported in the literature.

Scaling relationship and optimization of double-pulse electroporation

The efficacy of electroporation is known to vary significantly across a wide variety of biological research and clinical applications, but as of this writing, a generalized approach to simultaneously improve efficiency and maintain viability has not been available in the literature. To address that discrepancy, we here outline an approach that is based on the mapping of the scaling relationships among electroporation-mediated molecular delivery, cellular viability, and electric pulse parameters. The delivery of Fluorescein-Dextran into 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells was used as a model system. The pulse was rationally split into two sequential phases: a first precursor for permeabilization, followed by a second one for molecular delivery. Extensive data in the parameter space of the second pulse strength and duration were collected and analyzed with flow cytometry. The fluorescence intensity correlated linearly with the second pulse duration, confirming the dominant role of electrophoresis in delivery. The delivery efficiency exhibited a characteristic sigmoidal dependence on the field strength. An examination of short-term cell death using 7-Aminoactinomycin D demonstrated a convincing linear correlation with respect to the electrical energy. Based on these scaling relationships, an optimal field strength becomes identifiable. A model study was also performed, and the results were compared with the experimental data to elucidate underlying mechanisms. The comparison reveals the existence of a critical transmembrane potential above which delivery with the second pulse becomes effective. Together, these efforts establish a general route to enhance the functionality of electroporation.

Vesicle deformation and poration under strong dc electric fields

When subject to applied electric pulses, a lipid membrane exhibits complex responses including electrodeformation and electroporation. In this work, the electrodeformation of giant unilamellar vesicles under strong dc electric fields was investigated. Specifically, the degree of deformation was quantified as a function of the applied field strength and the electrical conductivity ratio of the fluids inside and outside of the vesicles. The vesicles were made from L-α-phosphatidylcholine with diameters ranging from 14 to 30 μm. Experiments were performed with field strengths ranging from 0.9 to 2.0 kV/cm, and intra-to-extra-vesicular conductivity ratios varying between 1.92 and 53.0. With these parametric configurations, the vesicles exhibited prolate elongations along the direction of the electric field. The degree of deformation was, in general, significant. In some cases, the aspect ratio of a deformed vesicle exceeded 10, representing a strong-deformation regime previously not explored. The aspect ratio scaled quadratically with the field strength, and increased asymptotically to a maximum value at high conductivity ratios. Appreciable area and volumetric changes were observed both during and after pulsation, indicating the concurrence of electroporation. A theoretical model is developed to predict these large deformations in the strongly permeabilized limit, and the results are compared with the experimental data. Both agreements and discrepancies are found, and the model limitations and possible extensions are discussed.