Figure 1. Bioinspired synthetic nanopores with bilayer-coated fluid walls.

a, Cartoon showing a cross-section through one sensillum in the antenna of the silk moth Bombyx mori. Capture, pre-concentration, and translocation of pheromones through the exoskeleton of these sensilla towards dendrites of olfactory neurons is thought to occur via lipid-coated nanopores and pore tubules³²–³⁴. b, Cartoon, drawn to scale, showing a synthetic, lipid-coated (yellow) nanopore in a silicon nitride substrate (grey) and the interstitial water layer (blue). c, Nanopore resistance and corresponding open pore diameter as a function of the thickness of the bilayer coating³⁸. Red curve is a best fit of the data to equation (1). Numbers underneath the lipid cartoons refer to the number of carbons in their acyl chains (see Table 1). d, Actuation of nanopore diameters by a change in the thickness of the bilayer coating, Δd, in response to a thermal phase transition of DMPC lipids (see Supplementary Section S1). Blue dotted line and grey shaded region represent the mean value and range of phase transition temperatures reported for DMPC lipids³⁹. Inset: cycling the temperature between 13° and 27° C actuated the pore diameter dynamically as indicated by the larger changes in electrical resistance through a pore with (green squares) than without (back squares) a bilayer.