Study of water properties in nanospace

Here we report an anomalous behavior of water, especially its viscosity and hydrodynamic flow, in a nanometer-confined space. As a typical model of a nanometer-confined space, the nanopillar chip, which was developed for DNA size-based separation was used, and single-particle tracking (SPT) technique was applied to investigate water viscosity and hydrodynamic flow in the nanopillar chip. The diffusion coefficients of nanospheres were almost one-third of the theoretical value derived from the Stokes-Einstein equation. This result gave indirect proof that water viscosity in a nanometer-confined space is higher than in a bulk solution. In order to improve resolution and throughput of the nanopillar chip for DNA separation, these potential factors affecting performance should be seriously considered.