Thermal and electrochemical gate effects on DNA conductance

Abstract In an attempt to understand the complexities of DNA charge transport we have used a scanning tunnelling microscope break junction to repeatedly form a large number of Au-DNA-Au junctions. The DNA is covalently bound to the Au electrodes via gold-thiol bonds, and all measurements are carried out in an aqueous buffer solution to maintain a biological conformation of the duplex. A statistical analysis is carried out to determine the conductance of a single DNA duplex. Previously, we have seen an algebraic dependence of the conductance on length, suggesting a hopping mechanism. To attempt to verify this as the conduction mechanism we have changed the solution temperature and applied an electrochemical gate to the molecular junction to help elucidate the charge transport properties. In an alternating GC sequence with a length of eight base pairs, neither the temperature nor the gate potential caused a significant change in the conductance within the available experimental window

Real-Time Ozone Detection Based on a Microfabricated Quartz Crystal Tuning Fork Sensor

A chemical sensor for ozone based on an array of microfabricated tuning forks is described. The tuning forks are highly sensitive and stable, with low power consumption and cost. The selective detection is based on the specific reaction of the polymer with ozone. With a mass detection limit of ∼2 pg/mm2 and response time of 1 second, the sensor coated with a polymer sensing material can detect ppb-level ozone in air. The sensor is integrated into a miniaturized wearable device containing a detection circuit, filtration, battery and wireless communication chip, which is ideal for personal and microenvironmental chemical exposure monitoring

Single-molecule level control of host-guest interactions in metallocycle-C60 complexes

Host−guest interactions are of central importance in many biological and chemical processes. However, the investigation of the formation and decomplexation of host−guest systems at the single-molecule level has been a challenging task. Here we show that the single-molecule conductance of organoplatinum(II) metallocycle hosts can be enhanced by an order of magnitude by the incorporation of a C60 guest molecule. Mechanically stretching the metallocycle-C60 junction with a scanning tunneling microscopy break junction technique causes the release of the C60 guest from the metallocycle, and consequently the conductance switches back to the free-host level. Metallocycle hosts with different shapes and cavity sizes show different degrees of flexibility to accommodate the C60 guest in response to mechanical stretching. DFT calculations provide further insights into the electronic structures and charge transport properties of the molecular junctions based on metallocycles and the metallocycle-C60 complexes

A Combined SERS and MCBJ Study on Molecular Junctions on Silicon Chips

We have developed a combined Surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy (SERS) and mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) method to detect and characterize molecular junctions formed by two electrochemically nanofabricated electrodes on silicon chips. The method allows us to obtain vibrational spectra of the molecular junction and perform electron transport measurement on the molecules simultaneously. The preliminary IN characterization and SERS measurement on an asymmetric molecule, OPE-NO(2), and a symmetric molecule, OPE, were conducted. This approach may provide new insights into not only electron transport in molecules, but also the enhancement mechanism in single-molecule SERS