Pressure dependence of particle transport through resizable nanopores

Nanoparticles between 200 nm and 780 nm in diameter have been electronically detected as they passed through resizable nanopores. The dominant mechanism of particle transport was via pressure-driven flow. In each of four experiments using a variety of particle sizes, types and buffers, the rate of translocation detection increased linearly with applied pressure up to at least 1.0 kPa. Three different methods for nondestructive determination of the pore size yielded consistent results, demonstrating the utility and application of the Nernst-Planck equation for analyzing particle transport. Resizable nanopore technology has wide-ranging potential for nanoscale sensing; the range of particle sizes in the present study is of interest for virus detection applications.