An investigation of the properties of nanoelectrodes and Nanopores using new electroanalytical techniques

纳米电极和纳米孔是重要的兴趣;它们具有极高的局部传质并且能够吸附极小的颗粒。这里概述的项目将使用一系列定制和独特的电分析技术在南安普顿开发制造和研究这些结构。最近，在南安普顿使用修改的文献方法制造了新的纳米电极。这种方法已经产生了一系列可以在不到1小时内制造的纳米电极。反过来，这些已被用作一组圆锥形玻璃纳米孔的生成的基础。新的纳米电极和纳米孔，以及从电分析方面是有趣的，也可以用于其他应用。例如，已经提出了由于施加合适的刺激而产生电化学电势差（并且因此产生功率的可能性）。此外，在这个尺寸的一些结构也表现出有趣的流动特性，不遵循传统的预测响应。为了利用不寻常的流动特性，将产生具有石墨碳作为其壁的组成部分的纳米孔。将研究该表面及其功能化的效果。一个这样的研究将涉及跨内部产生的一组简单纳米孔的电化学电势生成的研究，其具体目的是表征所使用的材料的影响，溶液pH值和表面功能性等。这里概述的项目将研究这些结构，具体目的是利用在南安普顿开发的新技术（例如，高速阻抗分析和微分库尔特计数器），具体目的是获得对这些系统的机械细节的进一步了解。

Nanoelectrodes and nanopores are of significant interest; they have extremely high local mass transfer and are able to characterise extremely small particles. The project outlined here will fabricate and investigate these structures using an array of bespoke and unique electroanalytical techniques developed in Southampton. Recently new nanoelectrodes have been fabricated in Southampton using a modified literature approach. This approach has produced a series of nanoelectrodes that can be fabricated in < 1 hour. In turn, these have been used as the basis for the generation of a set of conical glass nanopores. The new nanoelectrodes and nanopores, as well as being interesting from an electroanalytical aspect, can also be useful for other applications. For example, the generation of an electrochemical potential differences as a result of the imposition of a suitable stimuli (and hence the possibility to produce power) has been suggested. In addition, some structures at this dimension also exhibit interesting flow properties which do not follow the conventional predicted response. In order to exploit the unusual flow characteristics, nanopores will be produced which have graphitic carbon as an integral part of their wall. The effect of this surface and its functionalisation will be investigated. One such investigation will involve the study of the electrochemical potential generation across a set of simple nanopores produced in-house with the specific aim of characterising the influence of the materials used, the solution pH and surface functionality etc. The project outlined here will investigate these structures with the specific aim of exploiting the new technologies developed at Southampton (for example high-speed impedance analysis and differential coulter counters) with the specific aim of gaining further insight into the mechanistic details of these systems.