Automated electrokinetic stretcher for manipulating nanomaterials

In this work, we present an automated platform for trapping and stretching individual micro- and nanoscale objects in solution using electrokinetic forces. The platform can trap objects at the stagnation point of a planar elongational electrokinetic field for long time scales, as demonstrated by the trapping of <100 nm polystyrene beads and DNA molecules for minutes, with a standard deviation in displacement from the trap center <1 & mu;m. This capability enables the stretching of deformable nanoscale objects in a high-throughput fashion, as illustrated by the stretching of more than 400 DNA molecules within & SIM;4 hours. The flexibility of the electrokinetic stretcher opens up numerous possibilities for complex manipulation, with sequential stretching of a molecule at different voltages and multiple stretch-relaxation cycles of the same molecule as examples. The platform described provides an automated, high-throughput method to track and manipulate objects for real-time studies of micro- and nanoscale systems.

Automated summary

In this work, an automated platform is introduced for trapping and stretching micro- and nanoscale objects in solution using electrokinetic forces. The platform demonstrates the capability to trap objects at the stagnation point of an elongational electrokinetic field for long periods of time, as evidenced by the trapping of <100 nm polystyrene beads and DNA molecules for minutes with minimal displacement. This platform allows for the high-throughput stretching of deformable nanoscale objects, as exemplified by stretching more than 400 DNA molecules within approximately 4 hours. Furthermore, the flexibility of the electrokinetic stretcher enables complex manipulation, such as sequential stretching at different voltages and multiple stretch-relaxation cycles of the same molecule. Overall, this platform provides an automated and high-throughput method for tracking and manipulating objects in real-time studies of micro- and nanoscale systems.