Nanometric Material Having a Nanopore Enabling High-Sensitivity Molecular Detection and Analysis

A nanopore sensor comprising:

• a solid state membrane having a thickness, between a first membrane surface and a second membrane surface opposite the first membrane surface, that is less than about 1 nm;
• a nanopore extending through the membrane thickness between the first and second membrane surfaces and having a diameter that is greater than the membrane thickness;
• a connection from the first membrane surface to a first reservoir to provide, at the first membrane surface, a species in an ionic solution to the nanopore;
• a connection from the second membrane surface to a second reservoir to collect the species and ionic solution after translocation of the species and ionic solution through the nanopore from the first membrane surface to the second membrane surface;
• and
• an electrical circuit connected to monitor translocation of the species in the ionic solution through the nanopore in the solid state membrane.

A method for evaluating a polymer molecule comprising:

• providing in an ionic solution a polymer molecule to be evaluated;
• translocating the polymer molecule in the ionic solution through a nanopore in a substantially bare, self-supported, single-layer graphene membrane from a first graphene membrane surface to a second graphene membrane surface opposite the first graphene surface;
• and
• monitoring the flow of ionic current through the nanopore in the graphene membrane.

A nanopore sensor comprising:

• a self-supported nanometric material having a thickness, between a first material surface and a second material surface opposite the first material surface, that is less than about 5 nm;
• a nanopore extending through the material thickness between the first and second material surfaces and having a diameter that is greater than the material thickness;
• a connection from the first material surface to a first reservoir to provide, at the first material surface, a species in an ionic solution to the nanopore;
• a connection from the second material surface to a second reservoir to collect the species and ionic solution after translocation of the species and ionic solution through the nanopore from the first material surface to the second material surface;
• and
• an electrical circuit connected to monitor translocation of the species in the ionic solution through the nanopore in the solid state material.

A nanopore sensor comprising:

• a first reservoir including in ionic solution a molecular species to be analyzed, the molecular species having a characteristic diameter of a widest molecular feature along molecular length;
• a self-supported nanometric material having a thickness, between a first material surface and a second material surface opposite the first material surface, that is less than about 5 nm;
• a nanopore extending through the material thickness between the first and second material surfaces, the nanopore being characterized by a smallest extent across the nanopore that is no more than about 5% larger than the largest molecular feature diameter of the molecular species in the ionic solution;
• a connection from the first material surface to the first reservoir to provide, at the first material surface, the species in ionic solution to the nanopore;
• a connection from the second material surface to a second reservoir to collect the species and ionic solution after translocation of the species and ionic solution through the nanopore from the first material surface to the second material surface;
• and
• an electrical circuit connected to monitor translocation of the species in the ionic solution through the nanopore in the solid state material.