Highly Conductive Thin Uniform Gold‐Coated DNA Nanowires

Abstract

Over the past decades, DNA, the carrier of genetic information, has been used by researchers as a structural template material. Watson-Crick base pairing enables the formation of complex 2D and 3D structures from DNA through self-assembly. Various methods have been developed to functionalize these structures for numerous utilities. Metallization of DNA has attracted much attention as a means of forming conductive nanostructures. Nevertheless, most of the metallized DNA wires reported so far suffer from irregularity and lack of end-to-end electrical connectivity. An effective technique for formation of thin gold-coated DNA wires that overcomes these drawbacks is developed and presented here. A conductive atomic force microscopy setup, which is suitable for measuring tens to thousands of nanometer long molecules and wires, is used to characterize these DNA-based nanowires. The wires reported here are the narrowest gold-coated DNA wires that display long-range conductivity. The measurements presented show that the conductivity is limited by defects, and that thicker gold coating reduces the number of defects and increases the conductive length. This preparation method enables the formation of molecular wires with dimensions and uniformity that are much more suitable for DNA-based molecular electronics.

Electrical Characterization of Individual Cesium Lead Halide Perovskite Nanowires Using Conductive AFM

“…Measurements were performed on CsPbBr 3 nanowires 100-1000 nm from the gold border, and on CsPb(Br x I 1−x ) 3 nanowires 30-200 nm from the gold border. All the nanowires that showed conductivity, transported currents also when contacted with the AFM tip at the end furthest from the gold border, namely, there was no abrupt termination of conductivity along the nanowire (as seen, for example, for gold coated DNA nanowires [20] ). No average length dependence of the I-Vs could be seen ( Figure S3, Supporting Information).…”

“…After depositing the nanowires on an insulating freshly cleaved mica surface, a gold electrode was deposited using stencil mask lithography and thermal evaporation (a). 18–20 AFM scanning along the gold electrode border revealed individual nanowires protruding from beneath the gold border (and electrically contacted to the gold electrode) (Figure 3b). These nanowires were contacted at their other end and/or at chosen points along them, with a conductive AFM tip, and I–V measurements were performed (Figure 3b inset and Figure 3c).…”

DNA‐Mediated Self‐Assembly and Metallization of Semiconductor Nanorods for the Fabrication of Nanoelectronic Interfaces

“…In particular, recent developments in DNA nanotechnology, such as the DNA origami technique, provided a straightforward route to fabricate 2D and 3D scaffolds that allowed for a precise arrangement of different materials through DNA‐strand hybridization. Prominent examples include the demonstration of an DNA‐templated carbon nanotube field‐effect transistor and the assembly of conductive gold nanowires . To this end, one‐dimensional semiconductor nanorods (SC NRs) are another promising material type, due to their synthetically designable anisotropic optical and electrical properties.…”

“…Prominent examples include the demonstration of an DNA-templated carbon nanotube field-effect transistor [8] and the assembly of conductive gold nanowires. [9][10][11] To this end, one-dimensional semiconductor nanorods (SC NRs) are another promising materialt ype, due to their synthetically designable anisotropic optical [12][13][14] and electrical [15,16] properties.D NA origami can serve as molecular breadboards for the precise arrangemento ft hese SC NRs with defined spatialo rientation and interparticle distances and allow for the construction of more complexn anoscale structures, includingm etal-SC heterostructures.V arious approaches for the DNA-functionalization of zero-dimensional SC nanoparticles, so-calledq uantum dots (QDs)a nd their assembly onto DNA origami have been already developed. [17][18][19][20][21][22] However,t hese studies focusedo nt heir optical rather than electrical applications.A dditionally,t he elongated shape of SC NRs is more suitablet oa lign these structures and establish electrical contacts through metal tips at the NR ends.…”

Au/Ag-containing DNA-based nanowires

“…Several types of DNA-based metalized nanowires have been recently reported. Among them are: new metalized form of DNA, E-DNA [1], and thin gold nanoparticlescoated DNA wires [2]. In this work we present direct conductivity measurements of such gold-coated DNA wires.…”