Biological Recognition with Bio-Inspired Smart Nanopores and Nanochannels Based on Polymer Membrane

Biological recognition with biomimetic smart polymer nanopores/nanochannles was an emerging field that has gained considerable attention on account of their unique ionic transport properties, superior robustness and bionic performances. The polymer nanopore/nanochannel recognition has opened an expandable perspective to biological recognition for their label-free, amplification-free characteristics. In this review, we focused on the up-to-date achievements on biological recognition with single or porous polymer nanopores/nanochannels. We have intended to figure out the cutting edge of proton sensing, metal ions specific identification, macromolecules analysis and small biomolecules detection with polymer nanopores/nanochannels. Dependent on the specific ion transport properties of polymer nanochannels involving rectification properties, gating properties and light-induced multi-response properties, proton sensing has been classified into three sections. For sensing three kinds of species, the fabrication and modification of different polymer nanochannels were introduced. Furthermore, the sensing mechanism and performance of those polymer nanochannels have been summarized. Challenge and prospective in near feature of biological recognition with polymer nanopores/nanochannels were proposed.