A miniature version of a ubiquitous laboratory instrument could move chemistry experiments out of test tubes and into tiny droplets. Researchers report that they have engineered a pipette that can dispense solutions at volumes of a billionth of a billionth of a liter.
The nanopipette consists of a millimeter-diameter glass tube that contains two chambers. The tube ends at a fine tip with two holes, one per chamber and each roughly 100 nanometers across. Each chamber holds an electrode and a conductive solution of water and salt.