Metallic Conduction through Engineered DNA: DNA Nanoelectronic Building Blocks

A. Rakitin, P. Aich, C. Papadopoulos, Yu. Kobzar, A. S. Vedeneev, J. S. Lee, and J. M. Xu
Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3670 – Published 16 April 2001
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Abstract

A novel way of engineering DNA molecules involves substituting the imino proton of each base pair with a metal ion to obtain M-DNA with altered electronic properties. We report the first direct evidence of metalliclike conduction through 15μm long M-DNA. In contrast, measurements on B-DNA give evidence of semiconducting behavior with a few hundred meV band gap at room temperature. The drastic change of M-DNA conductivity points to a new degree of freedom in the development of future molecular electronics utilizing DNA, such as creating all-DNA junction devices for use as nanoelectronic building blocks.

  • Received 4 August 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.3670

©2001 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. Rakitin1, P. Aich2, C. Papadopoulos1, Yu. Kobzar1, A. S. Vedeneev1,3, J. S. Lee2, and J. M. Xu1

  • 1Division of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912
  • 2Department of Biochemistry, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Road, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E5
  • 3Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics, Fryazino, Moscow district 141120, Russia

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Vol. 86, Iss. 16 — 16 April 2001

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