Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Diffusion coefficients and particle transport in synthetic membrane channels

  • Review
  • Published:
The European Physical Journal Special Topics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Diffusion in constrained geometries is paramount to transport across biological membranes and in mesoporous materials. Although the transported species vary from system to system, the underlying physical mechanisms are universal. However, there is an imbalance between theory and quantitative experimental model systems. We have recently introduced a new synthetic approach to mimic molecular diffusion based on colloidal particles, digital video microscopy, particle tracking, microfluidics and holographic optical tweezers. In this paper we report useful guidelines for the fabrication, handling and characterisation of the microfluidic chips and a study of diffusion coefficients, particle attempt and translocation rates through microfluidic channels with cross sections of different dimensions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. B. Alberts, A. Johnson, J. Lewis, M. Raff, K. Roberts, P. Walter, Molecular Biology of the Cell (Garland, 2008)

  2. J.W.F. Robertson, J.J. Kasianowicz, S. Banerjee, Chem. Rev. 112, 6227 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. T. Chou, D. Lohse, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3552 (1999)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. P.C. Bressloff, J.M. Newby, Rev. Mod. Phys. 85, 135 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. M.H. Saier Jr., C.V. Tran, R.D. Barabote, Nucl. Acids Res. 34, D181 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. M.H. Saier Jr., V.S. Reddy, D.G. Tamang, A. Vastermark, Nucl. Acids Res. 42, D251 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. S.W. Cowan, T. Schirmer, G. Rummel, M. Steiert, R. Ghosh, R.A. Pauptit, J.N. Jansonius, J.P. Rosenbusch, Nature 358, 727 (1992)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. L.R. Forrest, R. Krämer, C. Ziegler, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1807, 167 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. W. Saurin, M. Hofnung, E. Dassa, J. Mol. Evol. 48, 22 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Y.J. Reizer, M.H. Saier, Jr., W.J. Fairbrother, P.E. Wright, Biochemistry 32, 32 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. M. Geiszt, T.L. Leto, J. Biol. Chem. 279, 51715 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. F. Schüth, K.S.W. Sing, J. Weitkamp, Handbook of Porous Solids (Wiley-VCH, 2002)

  13. F. Laeri, F. Schüth, U. Simon, M. Wark, Host?Guest Systems Based on Porous Crystals (Wiley-VCH, 2003)

  14. S.M. Auerbach, K.A. Carrado, P.K. Dutta, Handbook of Zeolite Science and Technology (Taylor & Francis, 2003)

  15. G. Ertl, H. Knözinger, F. Schüth, J. Weitkamp, Handbook of Heterogeneous Catalysis (Wiley-VCH, 2008)

  16. J. Kärger, R. Valiullin, Chem. Rev. Soc. 42, 4172 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. J. Kärger, D.M. Ruthven, D. Theodorou, Diffusion in Nanoporous Materials (Wiley-VCH, 2012)

  18. A. Siria, P. Poncharal, A.-L. Biance, R. Fulcrand, X. Blase, S. T. Purcell, L. Bocquet, Nature 494, 255 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  19. R.K. Joshi, P. Carbone, F.C. Wang, V.G. Kravets, Y. Su, I.V. Grigorieva, H.A. Wu, A.K. Geim, R.R. Nair, Science 343, 752 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Z. Yao, C.L. Kane, C. Dekker, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2941 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. N.A.W. Bell, U.F. Keyser, Febs Lett. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2014.06.013 (2014)

  22. S.W. Kowalczyk, C. Dekker, Nano Lett. 12, 4159 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. V. Kukla, J. Kornatowski, D. Demuth, l. Girnus, H. Pfeifer, L.V.C. Rees, S.K.K. Unger, J. Kärger, Science 272, 702 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. J. Kärger, T. Binder, C. Chmelik, F. Hibbe, H. Krautscheid, R. Krishna, J. Weitkamp, Nat. Mater. 13, 333 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. E.M. Nestorovich, C. Danelon, M. Winterhalter, S.M. Bezrukov, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 99, 9789 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. C. Hilty, M. Winterhalter, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5624 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. R.M.M. Smeets, U.F. Keyser, D. Krapf, M.Y. Wu, N.H. Dekker, C. Dekker, Nano Lett. 6, 89 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. P.S. Burada, P. Hänggi, F. Marchesoni, G. Schmid, P. Talkner, Chem. Phys. Chem. 10, 45 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  29. P. Hänggi, F. Marchesoni, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 387 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. S. Redner, A guide to first-passage processes (Cambridge University Press, 2001)

  31. M. Muthukumar, Polymer translocation (CRC Press, 2011)

  32. Q.H. Wei, C. Bechinger, P. Leiderer, Science 287, 625 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. Y. Caspi, D. Zbaida, H. Cohen, M. Elbaum, Nano Lett. 11, 3728 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. S.W. Kowalczyk, L. Kapinos, T.R. Blosser, T. Magalhẽs, P. van Nies, R.Y.H. Lim, C. Dekker, Nat. Nanotechol. 6, 433 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. Y. Wang, Y. Wang, D.R. Breed, V.N. Manoharan, L. Feng, A.D. Hollingsworth, M. Weck, D.J. Pine, Nature 491, 51 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. K.D. Schleicher, S.L. Dettmer, L.E. Kapinos, S. Pagliara, U.F. Keyser, S. Jeney, R.Y.H. Lim, Nat. Nanotechol. 9, 525 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. B. Lin, M. Meron, B. Cui, S.A. Rice, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 216001 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  38. V.J. Anderson, H.N.W. Lekkerkerker, Nature 416, 811 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. U. Gasser, E.R. Weeks, A. Schofield, P.N. Pusey, D.A. Weitz, Science 292, 258 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. H. Wang, T.-S. Chung, Y.W. Tong, K. Jeyaseelan, A. Armugam, Z. Chen, M. Hong, W. Meier, Small 8, 1185 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. R.J. Macfarlane, B. Lee, M.R. Jones, N. Harris, G.C. Schatz, C.A. Mirkin, Science 334, 204 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. L. Di Michele, E. Eiser, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 15, 3115 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. L. Di Michele, F. Varrato, J. Kotar, S.H. Nathan, G. Foffi, E. Eiser, Nature Comm. 4, 2007 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. D. Psaltis, S.R. Quake, C.H. Yang, Nature 442, 381 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. L. Mazutis, J. Gilbert, W.L. Ung, D.A Weitz, A.D. Griffiths, J.A. Heyman, Nat. Protoc. 8, 870 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. S. Pagliara, C. Chimerel, R. Langford, D.G.A.L. Aarts, U.F. Keyser, Lab Chip 11, 3365 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. S. Pagliara, K. Franze, C.R. McClain, G.W. Wylde, C.L. Fisher, R.J.M. Franklin, A.J. Kabla, U.F. Keyser, K.J. Chalut, Nat. Mater. 13, 638 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  48. D.R. Gossett, H.T.K. Tse, S.A. Lee, Y. Ying, A.G. Lindgren, O.O. Yang, J. Rao, A.T. Clark, D. Di Carlo, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 109, 7630 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  49. A.E. Ekpenyong, G. Whyte, K. Chalut, S. Pagliara, F. Lautenschläger, C. Fiddler, S. Paschke, U.F. Keyser, E.R. Chilvers, J. Guck, PLoS One 7, e45237 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. S. Kim, A.M. Streets, R.R. Lin, S.R. Quake, S. Weiss, D.S. Majumdar, Nat. Methods 8, 242 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. J.E. Curtis, B.A. Koss, D.G. Grier, Opt. Commun. 207, 169 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  52. D. Grier, Nature 424, 810 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  53. M. Padgett, R. Bowman, Nat. Photonics 5, 343 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  54. M. Padgett, R. Di Leonardo, Lab Chip 11, 1196 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. S. Pagliara, C. Schwall, U.F. Keyser, Adv. Mater. 25, 844 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. S. Pagliara, S.L. Dettmer, U.F. Keyser, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 048102 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  57. S.L. Dettmer, S. Pagliara, K. Misiunas, U.F. Keyser, Phys. Rev. E 89, 062305 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  58. A.M. Berezhkovskii, S.M. Bezrukov, Chem. Phys. 319, 342 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  59. A.M. Berezhkovskii, S.M. Bezrukov, Biophys. J. 88, L17 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. A.B. Kolomeisky, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 048105 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  61. W.R. Bauer, W. Nadler, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 11446 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  62. A. Zilman, Biophys. J. 96, 1235 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  63. K.A. Telari, B.R. Rogers, H. Fang, L. Shen, R.A. Weller, D.N. Braski, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 20, 590 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. S. Pagliara, C. Chimerel, D.G.A.L. Aarts, R. Langford, U.F. Keyser, Prog. Coll. Pol. Sci. 139, 45 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  65. R. Bowman, V. D’Ambrosio, E. Rubino, O. Jedrkiewicz, P. Di Trapani, M.J. Padgett, Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 199, 149 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  66. A. Bietsch, B. Michel, J. Appl. Phys. 88, 4310 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  67. J. Hu, R.G. Beck, T. Deng, R.M. Westervelt, K.D. Maranowski, A.C. Gossard, G.M. Whitesides, Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 2020 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  68. S. Pagliara, L. Persano, A. Camposeo, R. Cingolani, D. Pisignano, Nanotechnology 18, 175302 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  69. S.L. Dettmer, U.F. Keyser, S. Pagliara, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 023708 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  70. A.R. Prakash, S. Adamia, V. Sieben, P. Pilarski, L.M. Pilarski, C.J. Backhouse, Sensor. Actuat. B-Chem. 113, 398 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  71. P. Bungay, H. Brenner, Int. J. Multiphase Flow 1, 25 (1973)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  72. H.C. Berg, Random walks in biology (Princeton University Press, 1993)

  73. O. Dudko, A. Berezhkovskii, G. Weiss, J. Chem. Phys. 121, 1562 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  74. A.M. Berezhkovskii, M.A. Pustovoit, S.M. Bezrukov, J.Chem. Phys. 116, 9952 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  75. A.M. Berezhkovskii, M.A. Pustovoit, S.M. Bezrukov, J. Chem. Phys. 119, 3943 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  76. R. Dutzler, Y.F. Wang, P.J. Rizkallah, J.P. Rosenbusch, T. Schirmer, Structure 4, 127 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cavendish Laboratory, CB30HE, Cambridge, UK

    S. Pagliara, K. Misiunas, L. Lea, Y. Tan & U. F. Keyser

  2. Department of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    S. Pagliara

  3. Institute for Theoretical Physics - University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 77, 50937, Cologne, Germany

    S. L. Dettmer

Authors
  1. S. Pagliara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. L. Dettmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. K. Misiunas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. L. Lea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Y. Tan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. U. F. Keyser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Pagliara.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pagliara, S., Dettmer, S.L., Misiunas, K. et al. Diffusion coefficients and particle transport in synthetic membrane channels. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 223, 3145–3163 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02324-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02324-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation