On-Demand and Efficient Fabrication of Sub-10 nm Solid-State Nanopore Arrays

Solid-state nanopore arrays, known for their high inner-wall surface area and analyte throughput, hold significant promise for applications such as high-throughput molecular filtration, biomolecular detection, and single-molecule sensing. However, their efficient fabrication and precise pore diameter control to well match target analytes remain as great challenges. Herein, a novel method is proposed based on sacrificial phase removal in biphasic metamaterials followed by Lewis acid-base reaction. Mechanistically, the sacrificial phase is selectively etched to create an initial porous template, after which the Lewis acid reacts with the pore wall, enabling finely controlled etching and an atomic-scale enlargement of the pores. This strategy enables the fabrication of solid-state nanopore arrays with pore diameters below 10 nm (specifically 4.6-5.4 nm) and sub-1 nm (0.8 nm) tunability in pore expansion. The resulting arrays exhibit a uniform pore size distribution, scalability to large areas, and ease of integration.