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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Nanotechnol. 2010 May 16;5(6):412–416. doi: 10.1038/nnano.2010.81

Figure 1. Reversible dielectric breakdown across a thin glass wall separating two channels (i.e. a NLGE).

Figure 1

Figure 1

Electric currents are measured simultaneously with fluorescent visualization using rhodamine110 (R110, 40 µM) diluted in the phosphate buffer (100mM, pH=7.0). a–d, Light and fluorescence micrographs of NLGE in zinc-titancia glass (ZT, Corning 0211). a, Light micrograph of the NLGE carrying a current of 18.4 nA with 10 V potential (thickness of tip=180±70 nm, see supplemental 2). b, Despite current flow, the NLGE tip blocks direct fluid transfer, as evidenced by lack of fluorescence in the right reservoir (pseudo-color conversion of grey-scale to black-blue-green-yellow-red format, after 4 images were averaged for noise reduction). c, Elimination of the NLGE tip increases the electric current to 53.4 nA. d, After the tip is eliminated, direct transfer of R110 is seen (the same pseudo-color conversion as b, after 8 images were averaged for noise reduction). e, An abrupt current jump due to dielectric breakdown exhibits hysteresis when the voltage is cycled in a fused silica (FS) substrate (two cycles of many similar cycles are shown). f, A similar breakdown current jump and hysteresis occurs with a zinc-titania substrate. Error bars indicate current fluctuations. g, Simulated and measured I-V data for rising potential in zinc-titania and fused silica substrates.