A nanomechanical mass sensor with yoctogram resolution

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Abstract

Nanomechanical resonators have been used to weigh cells, biomolecules and gas molecules, and to study basic phenomena in surface science, such as phase transitions and diffusion. These experiments all rely on the ability of nanomechanical mass sensors to resolve small masses. Here, we report mass sensing experiments with a resolution of 1.7 yg (1 yg = 10(-24) g), which corresponds to the mass of one proton. The resonator is a carbon nanotube of length ∼150 nm that vibrates at a frequency of almost 2 GHz. This unprecedented level of sensitivity allows us to detect adsorption events of naphthalene molecules (C(10)H(8)), and to measure the binding energy of a xenon atom on the nanotube surface. These ultrasensitive nanotube resonators could have applications in mass spectrometry, magnetometry and surface science.

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Most cited references 28

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Zeptogram-scale nanomechanical mass sensing.

Y Yang, C. Callegari, X Feng … (2006)

Very high frequency (VHF) nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) provide unprecedented sensitivity for inertial mass sensing. We demonstrate in situ measurements in real time with mass noise floor approximately 20 zg. Our best mass resolution corresponds to approximately 7 zg, equivalent to approximately 30 xenon atoms or the mass of an individual 4 kDa molecule. Detailed analysis of the ultimate sensitivity of such devices based on these experimental results indicates that NEMS can ultimately provide inertial mass sensing of individual intact, electrically neutral macromolecules with single-Dalton (1 amu) resolution.

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Toward single-molecule nanomechanical mass spectrometry

A. K. Naik, M. Hanay, W. K. Hiebert … (2009)

Mass spectrometry (MS) provides rapid and quantitative identification of protein species with relatively low sample consumption. Yet with the trend toward biological analysis at increasingly smaller scales, ultimately down to the volume of an individual cell, MS with few-to-single molecule sensitivity will be required. Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) provide unparalleled mass sensitivity, which is now sufficient for the detection of individual molecular species in real time. Here we report the first demonstration of MS based on single-biological-molecule detection with NEMS. In our NEMS-MS system, nanoparticles and protein species are introduced by electrospray injection from fluid phase in ambient conditions into vacuum and subsequently delivered to the NEMS detector by hexapole ion optics. Precipitous frequency shifts, proportional to the mass, are recorded in real time as analytes adsorb, one-by-one, onto a phase-locked, ultrahigh frequency NEMS resonator. These first NEMS-MS spectra, obtained with modest mass sensitivity from only several hundred mass adsorption events, presage the future capabilities of this approach. We also outline the substantial improvements that are feasible in the near term, some of which are unique to NEMS-MS.