Affordable 'Nano Gap Electrode' Captures Viruses and Microplastics

The city center viewed from Namsan in Seoul on the 12th, when the fine dust concentration was at the 'Bad' level, is shrouded in fine dust. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Domestic researchers have developed a technology that can mass-produce 'nanogap electrodes' capable of effectively capturing fine dust and microplastics at low cost. By utilizing this technology, nano particles present in fluids such as air or water can be easily trapped. It is expected to be used as a device to capture nano particles in various fields such as viruses, dementia proteins, and cancer diagnostic markers.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced on the 21st that, through joint research with Seoul National University, they developed nanogap electrodes that efficiently capture ultrafine suspended particles at the nanometer scale in fluids, and the related research results were published in the latest issue of the international journal Nature Communications.

Development of Nanogap Electrodes to Capture Nano Particles

The research team led by Dr. Yuyong Sang of the Sensor Systems Research Center at KIST's National Infrastructure Technology Research Division and Professor Shin-Doo Lee of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University developed 'nanogap electrode' technology that captures nano particles about 20 nanometers in size floating in air or water. Twenty nanometers is about one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair. They developed electrodes capable of filtering particles that are difficult to identify with the naked eye, such as ultrafine dust.

The nanogap electrodes developed by the joint research team were based on dielectrophoretic tweezers technology. Dielectrophoresis applies vibrations at frequencies ranging from hundreds to thousands of times per second to two electrodes, creating a non-uniform electric field around the electrodes, which attracts or repels particles near the electric field to or from the electrode area.

The research team discovered that vertically arranged asymmetric electrodes generate dielectrophoretic forces more than 10 times greater than the horizontally arranged electrodes previously used, and applied this to the development of nanogap electrodes. This achievement overcame the biggest obstacles to the commercialization of nanogap electrodes: large-area fabrication and cost reduction. The conventional method of fabricating horizontally arranged electrodes required at least several hundred thousand won to realize nanogaps the size of a fingernail. In contrast, using the new dielectrophoresis technology, nanogap electrodes the size of an LP record can be produced for up to 5,000 won.

Capturing Viruses and Bacteria as Well

The research team expects this technology to be applied in various fields. When used in air or water filters, it can detect or remove various fine suspended particles such as fine dust, nano plastics, viruses, bacteria, and microbes in real time with low voltage comparable to that of a battery.

In their case, by utilizing the newly developed nanogap electrodes, they recently succeeded in selectively concentrating and controlling the position of extracellular vesicles (exosomes), which have attracted attention as new markers for drug development and cancer diagnosis, as well as dementia proteins.

Dr. Yuyong Sang, the first author of this study, stated, "This achievement means that we have secured technology that can selectively purify particles regardless of the type of nano particles or environment." Dr. Yuyong Sang, the principal investigator at KIST, explained, "Based on this research, we hope to contribute broadly to solving various social problems and improving the quality of human life."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.