Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Protonization Of Amino Functional Groups Confined In Nanochannels, Hong-Li Gao, Kai-Lin Zhou, Chen Wang, Su-Juan Li, Hui Zhang, Xing-Hua Xia

Journal of Electrochemistry

Protonization process is the key step of acid-base reaction and occurs in many biological processes. Study of the protonization process of molecules and/or functional groups in confined conditions would assist understanding in the acid-base theory and confinement effect of biomolecules. In this paper, we developed a novel approach to study protonization of functional groups in porous anodic alumina array nanochannels by measuring the flux of electrochemical active probes using an Au film electrochemical detector sputtered at the end of the nanochannels. The protonization status of the surface functional groups in nanochannels can change the surface charges and further modulate the …