https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2012110290
Surface-charge effects on the movement of a polyelectrolyte through a solid-state nanopore
1
College of Life sciences and Biotechnology, School of Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, P.R. China
2
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, P.R. China
a e-mail: dkjian@bjtu.edu.cn
Received:
22
July
2011
Revised:
30
March
2012
Accepted:
21
May
2012
Published online:
5
July
2012
This contribution presents an electro-hydrodynamic method for establishing the relationship between the motion of a polyelectrolyte through a solid-state nanopore and the surface-charge density of the nanopore. For a polyelectrolyte driven by an external electric field, our numerical calculations show that the dynamics of polyelectrolyte translocation through a nanopore are mediated by the charge density σ of the nanopore surface. The result implies that the charge density can be an effective way to regulate the polyelectrolyte translocation. Moreover, for the first time results indicate that a threaded polyelectrolyte may be retracted from a nanopore, and that a nanometer-scale channel can act as nanopore tweezers, in the same way as optical or magnetic tweezers allow manipulation of single molecules.
© EDP Sciences, 2012
