Nanopore discrimination of rare earth elements
The date of：
2025-02-17
viewed:
43
source:Nature Nanotechnology
Rare earth elements (REEs), including scandium, yttrium and lanthanides, are strategic resources with unique electric, luminescent and magnetic properties. However, owing to their highly similar physiochemical properties, the identification and separation of all REEs are challenging. Here a Mycobacterium smegmatis porin A nanopore is engineered to contain a nitrilotriacetic acid ligand at its pore constriction. By the further introduction of a secondary ligand Nα,Nα-bis(carboxymethyl)-L-lysine hydrate (ANTA), a dual-ligand sensing strategy was established. A unique property of this strategy is that a variety of REE(III) ions report characteristic blockage features containing three-level transitions, which are critical in discriminating different REE(III)s. The nanopore events of REE(III)s also demonstrate a clear periodicity, suggesting the observation of the lanthanide contraction effect at a single-molecule regime. Assisted by machine learning, all 16 naturally occurring REE(III)s have been identified by the nanopore with high accuracy. This sensing strategy is further applied in analysing bastnaesite samples, suggesting its potential use in geological exploration.
Hot News
/
Related to recommend
2026
-
06
-
04
Click on the number of times:
0
Effect of Charge Compensation in the Structure, Energetics, and Dopant Distribution in Rare-Earth Element-Doped Zircon Revealed from First-Principles Calculation 来源：ACS PublicationsThe energetics of r...
2026
-
06
-
04
Click on the number of times:
0
来源：ACS PublicationsTo enhance the corrosion resistance of epoxy coatings, a three-dimensional (3D) network-like europium–nickel-co-doped zinc oxide (Eu–Ni–ZnO) was synthesized via a combustion method....
2026
-
06
-
03
Click on the number of times:
0
Highly Water-Dispersible Upconverting GdPO4Er3+Yb3+ Nanophosphors for Optical, Magnetic, Magnetic Hyperthermia, Anticounterfeit, and In Vitro and Ex-Vivo Multimodal Applications来源：ACS PublicationsHigh...
2026
-
06
-
02
Click on the number of times:
0
来源：ACS PublicationsCsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals have been investigated as photocatalysts for CO2 reduction owing to their excellent light-harvesting and multi-exciton generation. However, under str...