Towards DNA- and Protein-Based Nanoelectronics?
Danny Porat
Dept. of Chemistry, The Hebrew University
- DNA is
considered as one of the attractive candidates for molecular electronics. It
was studied in many ways including: electrical transport, atomic force
microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The results of
various measurements of charge transport in DNA seem inconsistent. A deeper
look into the experiments can offer a general understanding of the reports and
ways to optimize the conductivity in DNA.
-
I will show
electrical measurements of relatively high current (200 nA@2 V) in
short (10 nm
long) DNA molecules supported by multileveled evidence. Then I
will present
measurements of the electronic structure of homogeneous DNA
molecules by
scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS). I will also show clear
polarizability of G4-DNA, a promising DNA derivative. Finally I
will show results on SP1 proteins
hybridized with goldnanoparticles.
-
- Schematic of the experiment
(a) and a topography image of gold nanoparticles connected through
double-stranded DNA to an underlying gold surface surrounded by a
single-stranded DNA monolayer (b). A collection of current-voltage curves
measured on different molecules from various samples (c).