TY - JOUR A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Zorn, R. A1 - Frick, B. T1 - Inelastic neutron spectroscopy as a tool to investigate nanoconfined polymer systems N2 - The effect of a nanometer scale confinement (pore sizes 7.5 nm down to 2.5 nm) on the vibrational density of states (VDOS) and on the molecular dynamics of Poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) and Poly(-methyl phenyl siloxane) (PMPS) is studied by inelastic Neutron scattering. The high penetration depth of neutrons makes neutron scattering a suitable tool for the study of confined systems. Moreover, Neutrons are sensitive to light nuclei therefore the confined polymers can be investigated directly, more or less independently of the confining host. Resulting findings are firstly, a reduction of the low frequency contributions to the VDOS below the Boson Peak frequency for both polymers. Including literature data, this reduction can be regarded as a more general feature for glass-forming systems confined by hard walls. Secondly, clear deviations in the temperature dependence of the mean squared displacement of the confined molecules compared to the bulk were found close to the thermal glass transition temperature, whereas localized methyl group rotations were only weakly influenced. Furthermore, the molecular dynamics is accessed. The combination of neutron Time-of-Flight with neutron backscattering, thus covering a broad dynamical range from sub ps to ns, reveal clear influence from confinement on the intermediate incoherent scattering function S(q,t). The latter was obtained by combining the inverse Fourier transform of the individual dynamical structure factors measured by the both methods. The time and q dependence of S(q,t) are discussed in detail for the local methyl group rotations and the segmental dynamics, considering both the interaction of the segments with the pore walls and possible geometrical confinement effects. KW - Confinement KW - Density of states KW - Dynamic glass transition PY - 2016 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2016.06.006 SN - 0032-3861 SN - 1873-2291 VL - 105 SP - 393 EP - 406 PB - Elsevier AN - OPUS4-38256 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Al-Waqfi, R. A. A1 - Khan, C. J. A1 - Irving, O. J. A1 - Matthews, Lauren A1 - Albrecht, T. T1 - Crowding Effects during DNA Translocation in Nanopipettes N2 - Quartz nanopipettes are an important emerging class of electric single-molecule sensors for DNA, proteins, their complexes, as well as other biomolecular targets. However, in comparison to other resistive pulse sensors, nanopipettes constitute a highly asymmetric environment and the transport of ions and biopolymers can become strongly directiondependent. For double-stranded DNA, this can include the characteristic translocation time and tertiary structure, but as we show here, nanoconfinement can also unlock capabilities for biophysical and bioanalytical studies at the single-molecule level. To this end, we show how the accumulation of DNA inside the nanochannel leads to crowding effects, and in some cases reversible blocking of DNA entry, and provide a detailed analysis based on a range of different DNA samples and experimental conditions. Moreover, using biotin-functionalized DNA and streptavidinmodified gold nanoparticles as target, we demonstrate in a proof-of-concept study how the crowding effect, and the resulting increased residence time in nanochannel, can be exploited by first injecting the DNA into the nanochannel, followed by incubation with the nanoparticle target and analysis of the complex by reverse translocation. We thereby integrate elements of sample processing and detection into the nanopipette, as an important conceptual advance, and make a case for the wider applicability of this device concept. KW - DNA translocation KW - Transport KW - Resistive-pulse sensing KW - Nanopores KW - Nanopipettes KW - Crowding KW - Confinement PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-630448 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c01529 SN - 1936-086X VL - 19 IS - 17 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-63044 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -