Nanofluidic devices prepared by an atomic force microscopy-based single-scratch approach

Nanofluidic chips with different numbers of nanochannels were fabricated based on a commercial AFM system using a single-scratch approach. The electrical characterization and enzymatic reactions at the nanoscale were demonstrated using the obtained chips. The effects of the number of nanochannels and the solution concentration on the measured electric current were investigated. The influence of the hydrodynamic convection generated from the induced inflow at the end of the nanochannel on the ion transport through the nanochannel was also studied. Moreover, the enzymatic reactions for trypsin towards poly-L-lysine (PLL) or thrombin were conducted with a nanofluidic chip to investigate the reaction specificity between trypsin and PLL. Results show that the electric current change during the experimental process could be used as a label-free indicator to detect the enzymatic activity.