Preface Free

Nanopore electrochemistry refers to the promising measurement science based on elaborate pore structures that offer a well-defined geometric confined space to adopt and characterize single entities including single cells, single particles, and even single molecules, by electrochemical technology. The electrochemical confined effect within the nanopore displays the ability to achieve single entity discrimination by focusing energy (e.g., electrochemical, light, and magnetic energies, etc.) into small areas, converting the intrinsic properties of single entities into electrochemical read-outs. Furthermore, the excellent resolution of confined nanopore technology also permits the possibility to resolve the transient signals for further revealing the information of single biomolecules dynamics. The chemical confinement inside nanopore provides the advanced electrochemically confined effects to convert transient information of chemical groups into the enhanced ion current signals. Recently, the nanopore electrochemistry has been further applied to biophysics, chemical biology, disease diagnostics, and other advanced disciplines by pushing the limitation of detection to micro and nano scale. In this book, we summarize the nanopore electrochemistry from the following three main areas. First, a nanopore-based single biomolecule sensing interface with chemical group precision is described, including the design of a single biomolecule interface, and instrumentation, with applications such as nucleotide detection, peptide discrimination, photo-responsive molecule analysis, and protein sequencing. Then, the inorganic material-based nanopore is summarized along with its fabrication process and application. Last, the glass nanopipette, which is a relatively feasible and cheap nanopore, is introduced to fill the gap of the complexity of the inorganic nanopore fabrication process. Such an electrochemical confinement enables the monitoring of biomolecule interactions and the electron-transfer process in single living cells with high resolution and negligible cell damage. With the advents of advanced measurement mechanism, instrumentation, and data algorithms, the electrochemically confined nanopore is undoubtedly an exciting and promising field. We expect the next avenue for the wide application of nanopore electrochemistry in a variety of disciplines, leading us to explore the new chemistry at a much smaller scale. Our hope is that this book will be useful to all interested in Nanopore Electrochemistry. We sincerely thank all authors who contributed to this book. We also thank our coworkers, colleagues, current and former group members for their contributions in Nanopores to advance this field.

Yi-Tao Long