Experimental Nanofluidics in an individual Nanotube

Building new devices that benefit from the strange transport behavior of fluids at nanoscales is an open and worthy challenge that may lead to new scientific and technological paradigms. [1-3] We present here a new class of nanofluidic device, made of individual Boron-Nitride (BN) nanotube inserted in a pierced membrane and connecting two macroscopic reservoirs. We explore fluidic transport inside a single BN nanotube under electric fields, pressure drops, chemical gradients, and combinations of these. We show that in this transmembrane geometry, the pressure-driven streaming current is voltage gated, with an apparent electro-osmotic zeta potential raising up to one volt. Further, we measured the current induced by ion concentration gradients and show its dependency on the surface charge.\\[4pt] [1] L. Bocquet, E. Charlaix, Chem. Soc. Rev., 39, 1073 (2010).\newline [2] M. Majumder et al., Nature 2005, 438, 44.\newline [3] J.K. Holt et al. Science 2006, 312, 1034.