Aquaporin-Inspired CPs/AAO Nanochannels for the Effective
Detection of HCHO: Importance of a Hydrophilic/Hydrophobic Janus Device
for High-Performance Sensing
posted on 2022-05-02, 13:04authored byDan Zhang, Xuanjun Zhang
Probe reactivity has long been considered
to play a key role in
artificial nanochannel sensors, but systematic studies of membrane
wettability on detection performance are currently lacking. Inspired
by biological aquaporins, we developed an effective strategy to regulate
the hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance by the controllable in situ assembly
of coordination polymers (CPs) using BDC-NH2 on anodic
aluminum oxide (AAO) nanochannels to promote HCHO detection. We found
that the hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance in CP/AAO heterosomes plays
significant roles in the effective detection of HCHO. The hydrophobic
AAO barrier layer is necessary to support the confinement effect,
while the hydrophilic CP surface is favorable for HCHO to access the
channels and then condense with the responsive amine to generate a
new imine. The optimized CP/AAO Janus device shows excellent performance
in the quantitative analysis of HCHO over a wide range from 100 pM
to 1 mM by monitoring the rectified ionic current.