Controllable and reversible DNA translocation through a single-layer molybdenum disulfide nanopore

Abstract

A challenge that remains to be solved in the high-throughput and low-cost nanopore DNA sequencing is that DNA translocates through the nanopore too quickly to be sequenced with enough accuracy. Here, we present a proof of principle study of slowing down DNA translocation across the molybdenum disulfide nanopore and even reversing its translocation direction by adjusting the proportion of molybdenum atoms to sulfur atoms at the nanopore boundary. When the proportion is smaller than 0.17, the electro-osmotic flow moves in the opposite direction to the electric force exerted on the DNA molecule and the more sulfur atoms at the nanopore boundary, the stronger the electro-osmotic flow is. For the nanopore with the proportion equal to 0.17, the electro-osmotic force exerted on DNA is smaller than the electrophoretic force, DNA can be captured and its translocation speed was found to be almost three times smaller than the speed through nanopores with the proportion larger than 0.27. However, for nanopores with the proportion smaller than 0.08, DNA would even be pushed away and prevented from entering the nanopore so that its translocation direction would be reversed. The theoretical study performed here provides a new means for controlling DNA transport dynamics in both translocation velocity and direction, which would facilitate better and cheaper nanopore DNA sequencing in the future.