Novel charge transport in DNA-templated nanowires

Abstract

The rapid development of DNA nanotechnology over the past decade has enabled the self-assembly of conducting building blocks towards the construction of conductive nanowires with potential applications in electronic nanodevices. To date, however, construction of nanostructures with novel electrical properties via DNA templating remains poorly explored. Here, we show that DNA can be used as a guiding template for the fabrication of polyaniline nanowires and gold nanoparticle (AuNP)–polyaniline-alternated hybrid nanowires, both of which exhibit novel electrical properties as characterized by point-contact current imaging atomic force microscopy (PCI-AFM). Specifically, the DNA-templated polyaniline nanowires exhibit Schottky emission-dominated conduction as well as a rectification effect, while the current–voltage (I–V) behaviours of the DNA-templated AuNP–polyaniline hybrid nanowires were found to be attributable to Coulomb blockade effects, probably due to the fact that the configuration of the hybrid nanowires resembles that of a one-dimensional array of multiple tunnel junctions. Given the facile and low-cost self-assembly technique, the present work is of fundamental and technological importance to the fabrication of one-dimensional nanodevices capable of novel charge transport.