Transverse tunneling through DNA hydrogen bonded to an electrode

Jin He, Lisha Lin, Peiming Zhang, Quinn Spadola, Zhiqun Xi, Qiang Fu, Stuart Lindsay

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Guanidinium ions tethered to an electrode form electrical contacts to DNA via hydrogen bonding with the backbone phosphates, thus providing a sequence-independent electrical connector for native DNA submerged in an aqueous electrolyte. DNA adlayers on a guanidinium modified electrode can be imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy with tens of pS gap conductance. The image resolution suggests that multiatom contacts contribute to the tunnel conductance, so we estimate that the single-nucleotide pair conductance may be on the order of 1 pS.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2530-2534
Number of pages5
JournalNano Letters
Volume8
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2008

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Bioengineering
  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanical Engineering

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