Nahid Afrin

I am a PhD student in the Research School of Physics at Australian National University. My research interests cover much of solid state nanopores and nanochanels (SSNs), surface chemistry, and nanofluidic biosensing devices. Currently I am working on ion-track based nanofluidic sensors. The sensing capabilities of the nanopores significantly depends on the surface properties and thus tuning the surface properties at the nano level enables the membrane to offer desired functionalities. The chemical groups present on the surface of the track-etched membranes work as strategic sites for the suitable anchoring of the building blocks with the ability of reacting with or binding to the specific analytes. Therefore, integration of the recognition elements on the surface of the SSNs enables the membrane to be used in different puposes, such as medical, sensing, and ultrafiltration.