Filling nanopipettes with apertures smaller than 50 nm: dynamic microdistillation

E. Salançon (1) , Bernard Tinland (1)

1 CINaM - Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille

Using nanopipettes with very small apertures (<10nm) is a good way to improve spatial resolution in scanning conductance experiments, to monitor single molecule delivery, to strain long molecule stretching in translocation, etc. However, such nanopipettes can be difficult to fill. Here we describe a dynamic micro-distillation technique that successfully fills all nanopipettes, whatever their shape or tip radius. Even elongated or bent nanopipettes with a small angle tip are completely filled using this new technique. The nanopipettes are first filled with pure water, which is later replaced with the desired electrolyte via electro-migration. Electrical measurements are used to check that filling is complete.

Mots clés: Nanopipette; Filling; Distillation; Current rectification

Domaines: Biophysique [physics.bio-ph]; Dynamique des Fluides [physics.flu-dyn]; Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]

E. Salançon, Bernard Tinland. Filling nanopipettes with apertures smaller than 50 nm: dynamic microdistillation. Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, 2018, 9, pp.2181 - 2187. ⟨10.3762/bjnano.9.204⟩. ⟨hal-01866858⟩