Electrostatically gated nanofluidic membranes: Technological developments and use of electrochemically polarizable materials

Solid-state nanoporous membranes able to control ionic flows at the molecular level could have important applications in fields of research such as water filtration, nanomedicine, energy production, drug delivery, and bio-chemical analysis. The ability to dynamically control the surface charge and the electrical potential inside nanopores extends the range of applications from passive to active devices, such as nanofluidic transistors. In the first part of the thesis a new wafer-scale manufacturing method for solid-state nanoporous membranes based on casting of sacrificial templates is proposed. This way it is possible to individually define the position and geometry of every nanopore by design, independently from the materials used, whichmake this fabrication strategy adapted to the manufacturing of both passive and active nanofluidic devices. In the second part of the thesis this technology was used to fabricate electrostatically gated nanofluidic membranes with nanopores integrating polarizable electrodes made of amorphous carbon inside the nanochannels. Those membranes demonstrated the ability to modulate the ionic conductivity of the nanopores via the variation of the surface charge of the nanochannels with a sensitivity two-three orders of magnitude larger compared to nanochannels gated through metal-oxide electrodes.