Dielectrophoresis as a tool for on-chip positioning of DNA and electrical characterization of nanoscale DNA

Solution-processible electrode materials for a heat-sensitive piezoelectric thin-film sensor

Abstract Piezoelectric sensors are needed in a wide range of applications from physiological measurement applications to industrial monitoring systems. Custom-designed, highly integratable and cost-effective sensor elements can be manufactured by using flexible materials in combination with high-throughput printing for fabrication. This would also enable the embedding of ubiquitous sensors in our living environment to improve the common welfare. Here, we have fabricated flexible piezoelectric sensor elements using printing methods. We demonstrated that alternative, printable electrode materials are compatible with temperature-sensitive functional substrates. Low-temperature curable electrod…

Measuring optical anisotropy in poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) films with added graphene

Abstract Graphene is a 2D nanomaterial having a great potential for applications in electronics and optoelectronics. Composites of graphene with conducting polymers have shown high performance in practical devices and their solution-processability enables low-cost and high-throughput mass manufacturing using printing techniques. Here we measure the effect of incorporation of graphene into poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) to the optical anisotropy, absorbance and conductivity of the film. Uniaxial anisotropy in PEDOT:PSS films has been thought to be caused by the spin-coating process used in fabrication. We have characterized spray- and spin-coated films …

Low-Temperature Solution Processable Electrodes for Piezoelectric Sensors Applications

Piezoelectric thin-film sensors are suitable for a wide range of applications from physiological measurements to industrial monitoring systems. The use of flexible materials in combination with high-throughput printing technologies enables cost-effective manufacturing of custom-designed, highly integratable piezoelectric sensors. This type of sensor can, for instance, improve industrial process control or enable the embedding of ubiquitous sensors in our living environment to improve quality of life. Here, we discuss the benefits, challenges and potential applications of piezoelectric thin-film sensors. The piezoelectric sensor elements are fabricated by printing electrodes on both sides of…

Trapping of 27 bp–8 kbp DNA and immobilization of thiol-modified DNA using dielectrophoresis

Dielectrophoretic trapping of six different DNA fragments, sizes varying from the 27 to 8416 bp, has been studied using confocal microscopy. The effect of the DNA length and the size of the constriction between nanoscale fingertip electrodes on the trapping efficiency have been investigated. Using finite element method simulations in conjunction with the analysis of the experimental data, the polarizabilities of the different size DNA fragments have been calculated for different frequencies. Also the immobilization of trapped hexanethiol- and DTPA-modified 140 nm long DNA to the end of gold nanoelectrodes was experimentally quantified and the observations were supported by density functiona…

Dielectrophoresis as a tool for nanoscale DNA manipulation

The use of the dielectrophoresis as a tool for DNA manipulation is demonstrated experimentally, using both unmodified 48,500 base pairs long bacteriophage lambda dsDNA (λ-DNA), ∼16 μm in length and 414 base pairs long thiol modified natural dsDNA (avDNA), ∼140 nm in length. We show that both the dsDNA types used, are effectively directed between the planar gold electrodes by the positive dielectrophoresis while applying an AC voltage at frequencies between 500 kHz and 1 MHz. With high concentrations of dsDNA in buffer the attached dsDNA molecules are shown to form bundles or clumps (both λ-DNA and avDNA). Furthermore, we demonstrate the attaching of a single avDNA molecule to an electrode v…

Carbon nanotubes as electrodes for dielectrophoresis of DNA

Dielectrophoresis can potentially be used as an efficient trapping tool in the fabrication of molecular devices. For nanoscale objects, however, the Brownian motion poses a challenge. We show that the use of carbon nanotube electrodes makes it possible to apply relatively low trapping voltages and still achieve high enough field gradients for trapping nanoscale objects, e.g., single molecules. We compare the efficiency and other characteristics of dielectrophoresis between carbon nanotube electrodes and lithographically fabricated metallic electrodes, in the case of trapping nanoscale DNA molecules. The results are analyzed using finite element method simulations and reveal information abou…

One-step large-scale deposition of salt-free DNA origami nanostructures

AbstractDNA origami nanostructures have tremendous potential to serve as versatile platforms in self-assembly -based nanofabrication and in highly parallel nanoscale patterning. However, uniform deposition and reliable anchoring of DNA nanostructures often requires specific conditions, such as pre-treatment of the chosen substrate or a fine-tuned salt concentration for the deposition buffer. In addition, currently available deposition techniques are suitable merely for small scales. In this article, we exploit a spray-coating technique in order to resolve the aforementioned issues in the deposition of different 2D and 3D DNA origami nanostructures. We show that purified DNA origamis can be …