Functionalized silica nanoparticles coupled with nanoporous membrane for efficient ionic current rectification.

In the last few decades, tremendous effort has been dedicated to mimicking the efficient ionic current rectification (ICR) of biological nanopores. Nanoporous membranes and singular nanopores with ICR functionality have been fabricated using advanced, yet costly technologies. We herein demonstrate that a simple, novel, and robust ICR platform can be constructed using 80 nm silica nanoparticles and a piece of 15 nm track-etched polycarbonate membrane.