Pink Noise of Ionic Conductance through Single Artificial Nanopores Revisited

Abstract

We report voltage-clamp measurements through single conical nanopore obtained by chemical etching of a single ion track in polyimide film. Special attention is paid to the pink noise of the ionic current (i.e., 1/f noise) measured with different filling liquids. The relative pink-noise amplitude is almost independent of concentration and pH for KCl solutions, but varies strongly using ionic liquids. In particular, we show that depending on the ionic liquid, the transport of charge carriers is strongly facilitated (low noise and higher conductivity than in the bulk) or jammed. These results show that the origin of the pink noise can be ascribed neither to fluctuations of the pore geometry nor to the pore wall charges, but rather to a cooperative effect on ions motion in confined geometry.