DNA translocation through polyelectrolyte modified hairy nanopores

DNA translocation through nanopore has attracted researcher over the last decade due their immense potential for application in next generation sequencingtechnique. One of the major challenges of nanopore based DNA sequencing technique is to slow down the translocation speed for precise characterization. In this article, DNA translocation through nanopore functionalized with polyelectrolyte brush has been investigated theoretically. The effect of polyelectrolyte properties (its charge density and softness degree) on DNA translocation speed has been studied for different salt concentration and nanopore radius. The results show that, an increase in polyelectrolyte fixed charged density and softness degree helps in slowing down the DNA translocation speed. Even though a larger diameter nanopore can results in slight reduction in DNA translocation speed at higher salt concentration, it causes significant reduction in current blockade ratio and therefore a larger nanopore is not suitable for sequencing purpose. The results provide significant insight on DNA translocation through soft nanopore which can be applied in designing next generation DNA sequencing device.