Highly Efficient Ionic Gating of Solid-State Nanosensors by the Reversible Interaction between Pillar[6]arene-AuNPs and Azobenzene.

By mimicking nature, various artificial nanofluidic platforms have been widely applied in a range of scientific fields. However, their low performance in terms of gating efficiency (<25) still hinders their practical applications. Herein, we present a highly efficient ionic gating nanosensor by fusing the merits of host-guest chemistry and Au nanoparticles (AuNPs). Based on this strategy, the pillar[6]arene (WP6)-functionalized AuNPs facilely regulated an azobenzene (AZO)-modified nanosensor with an excellent ion rectification ratio (∼22.2) and gating efficiency (∼89.5). More importantly, this gating nanosensor system also demonstrated promising stability and recyclability under conditions of alternative irradiation of visible and ultraviolet light. These excellent results would significantly help in expanding the utilization of artificial nanosensors for controllable drug delivery and biosensors.