Imagine a world where the fundamental barrier to separating ions is not a static wall, but a living, breathing gatekeeper that opens and closes in response to its surroundings.

For the fabrication of 2D nanochannel devices, a modified version of the fabrication process (Supplementary Fig. 1) previously reported was followed25,26, wherein a bottom hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) flake is transferred onto a silicon nitride (SiNx) free-standing membrane with a ~3-μm × 25-μm microhole. A few-layer graphene flake patterned using electron-beam lithography and dry etching serves as a spacer layer. Supplementary Fig. 1c shows an atomic force microscopy image of the spacer. A top hBN flake completes the trilayer stack, into which a rectangular aperture is dry etched to define the channel length, L ≈ 5 μm. Importantly, the top and bottom thicknesses ttop and tbot change not only the mechanical but also the optical properties of the devices and had to be chosen carefully. The full details of the N = 14 devices measured in this study are provided in Supplementary Table 1. Our measurement set-up consists of a custom fluidic cell with a top reservoir large enough to fit a water-dipping objective (Fig. 1b). The device is observed via wide-field reflection imaging with quasimonochromatic normal-incidence illumination enabling the quantification of the device topography by using thin-film interferometry21,27. Ion transport is induced by applying a sinusoidal potential drop ΔV(t)...

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-026-02775-4 Direct imaging elucidates ionic memory in two-dimensional nanochannels - Nature MaterialsThe microscopic origin of ionic memory in two-dimen...

Nanochannels capable of fast and selective mass transport are central to applications in energy, resources, biomedicine, and the environment. However, extreme nanoscale confinement, often coupled with...

Nature Synthesis, Published online: 16 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s44160-026-01191-5Diffusion-limited conversion of pre-formed covalent organic framework membranes creates a continuous chemical gradient across their thickness, with linkage conversion increasing from one face to the other while preserving aligned crystalline nanochannels. This asymmetry directs selective ion transport and increases salinity-gradient energy conversion, while the formation of robust linkages improves acid stability.

A new ionic switch uses reversible salt crystallization inside nanochannels to control electrical current and perform logic operations, offering a potential foundation for brain-inspired computing.

Nature Synthesis, Published online: 16 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s44160-026-01191-5Diffusion-limited conversion of pre-formed covalent organic framework membranes creates a continuous chemical gradient across their thickness, with linkage conversion increasing from one face to the other while preserving aligned crystalline nanochannels. This asymmetry directs selective ion transport and increases salinity-gradient energy conversion, while the formation of robust linkages improves acid stability.

Abstract. Directional proton transport is central to bioenergetics and emerging electrochemical technologies, yet achieving high and anisotropic proton con

arXiv abstract link

Researchers at The University of Manchester's National Graphene Institute have developed a new class of programmable nanofluidic memristors that mimic the memory functions of the human brain, paving t...

Seemingly sealed plasmonic nanogaps act as accessible channels for real-time, ultrasensitive molecular sensing.

Techniques for analyzing proteins, including single-cell proteomics, are increasingly important and employed in diverse fields. The time-consuming nature of protein digestion presents a bottleneck in ...

Copper atoms trapped in MXene nanochannels remove 94.9% of bisphenol A in 5 minutes by concentrating reactants and lowering the energy needed for breakdown.

Integrated ionic nanochannels operate as biomimetic photoreceptors for a self-powered ionic image sensor.

arXiv abstract link

arXiv abstract link

arXiv abstract link

arXiv abstract link

arXiv abstract link