Claims
- 1. An apparatus, comprising:
a photo-sensitive electrode; an electrolyte medium in contact with the photo-sensitive electrode; a counter electrode; a voltage source electrically coupled to the photo-sensitive electrode and the counter electrode, wherein a voltage generates a depletion region in the photo-sensitive electrode; and at least one photon energy source incident upon the depletion region, wherein the photon energy source generates photon energy such that photon energy contacting the depletion region forms electron-hole pairs, wherein either or both of the photon energy source and/or photo-sensitive electrode is movable relative to the other.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the photo-sensitive electrode is a semi-conductive material.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the semi-conductive material is selected from the group consisting of Si, Ge, GaAs, TiO2, CdS, and ZnO.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electrolyte medium is a film.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the film comprises a composition selected from the group consisting of polyacrylamide, agarose, polymethyl methacrylate, and dextran.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the counter electrode comprises a conductive organic material.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the counter electrode comprises a conductive inorganic material.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the counter electrode comprises a mixed inorganic/organic conductor.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the photon energy source produces a beam of light to create a localized photopotential in the electrolyte medium.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the photon energy source produces a beam of a desired geometry.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the photon energy source is intermittent.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the photon energy source is moved relative to the photo-sensitive electrode.
- 13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage source comprises a potentiostat.
- 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage is modulated.
- 15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the surface of the photo-sensitive electrode is artificially patterned.
- 16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage is alternated to generate an alternating pulsed potential between the electrode.
- 17. The apparatus of claim 6, 7, or 8, wherein the counter electrode is optically transmissive and electrically conductive.
- 18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the counter electrode is substantially planar and parallel to the photo-sensitive electrode.
- 19. A method for separating molecules, comprising
applying a voltage to a photo-sensitive electrode and a counter electrode to generate a depletion region on the photo-sensitive electrode, wherein the electrodes are separated by an electrolyte medium in contact with the photo-sensitive electrode, wherein the electrolyte medium comprises a plurality of analytes; contacting the depletion region with a photon energy source, wherein the photon energy source generates photon energy such that photon energy contacting the depletion region forms electron-hole pairs that are separated by the potential to form a photopotential; and continually changing the location of contact of the photon energy with the depletion region parallel to the photo-sensitive electrode such that a photopotential is propagated across the photo-sensitive electrode and proximal to the location of the analytes thereby causing the analytes to migrate relative to the photopotential.
- 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the analytes comprise biomolecules.
- 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the biomolecules are selected from the group consisting of polynucleotides, oligonucleotides, proteins, polypeptides, and peptides.
- 22. The method of claim 19, wherein the photon energy is emitted by a laser.
- 23. The method of claim 19, wherein the photo-sensitive electrode is a semi-conductive material.
- 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the semi-conductive material is selected from the group consisting of Si, Ge, GaAs, TiO2, CdS, and ZnO.
- 25. The method of claim 19, wherein the electrolyte medium is a film.
- 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the film comprises a composition selected from the group consisting of polyacrylamide, agarose, polymethyl methacrylate, and dextran.
- 27. The method of claim 19, wherein the counter electrode comprises a conductive organic material.
- 28. The method of claim 19, wherein the counter electrode comprises a conductive inorganic material.
- 29. The method of claim 19, wherein the counter electrode comprises a mixed inorganic/organic conductor.
- 30. The method of claim 19, wherein the photon energy source produces a beam of light to create a localized photopotential in the tonically conductive medium.
- 31. The method of claim 19, wherein the photon energy source produces a beam of a desired geometry.
- 32. The method of claim 19, wherein the photon energy source is intermittent.
- 33. The method of claim 19, wherein the photon energy source is moved relative to the. photo-sensitive electrode.
- 34. The method of claim 19, wherein the voltage is applied between the counter electrode and the substrate using a potentiostat.
- 35. The method of claim 19, wherein the voltage is modulated.
- 36. The method of claim 19, wherein the surface of the photo-sensitive electrode is artificially patterned.
- 37. The method of claim 19, wherein the voltage is alternated to generate an alternating pulsed photopotential.
- 38. The method of claim 27, 28, or 29, wherein the counter electrode is optically transmissive and electrically conductive.
- 39. The method of claim 20, wherein the biomolecule comprises a detectable label.
- 40. The method of claim 39, wherein the detectable label is selected from the group consisting of an radioisotope, a dye, a fluorescent molecule, a luminescent molecule, and an enzyme.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 10/077,633, filed Feb. 15, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
[0002] The invention was made with government support under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725, awarded by the United States Department of Energy to UT-Battelle, LLC, the United States Government has certain rights in this invention.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10077633 |
Feb 2002 |
US |
Child |
10365242 |
Feb 2003 |
US |