Recent studies focus on the integration of nanofluidic devices into microsystems. An interface should be created for the connection between two length-scales. A system with solely nanofluidic devices standalone is impractical because it would requires a large driving pressure to make fluids flow into the nano-channel.
Nanofluidic devices are powerful in their high sensitivity and accurate manipulation of sample materials even down to a single molecule. Nevertheless, the drawback of nanofuidic separation systems is the relatively low sample throughput and its result in detection. One possible approach to deal with the problem is to use parallel separation channels with parallel detection in each channel. In addition, a better approach for detection needs to be created in view of the very small quantities of molecules present.
One of the biggest challenges in this research area are due to the peculiar size-effect. Researchers try to solve the problems caused by the extremely high surface-to-volume ratios. Under this condition, adsorption of molecules can lead to large losses and can also change the surface properties.
Another issue arises when the sample for detection is a relatively large molecule, such as DNA or protein. In the application for large molecule, clogging is a concern because the small size of the nanochannel makes it easy to happen. A low friction coating at inner surface of the channel is desired to avoid blocking of fluid channels in this application.