Piezoresistivity is a fundamental property of materials that has found many device applications. Here we report piezoresistivity in double helical DNA molecules. By studying the dependence of molecular conductance and piezoresistivity of single DNA molecules with different sequences and lengths, and performing molecular orbital calculations, we show that the piezoresistivity of DNA is caused by force-induced changes in the π–π electronic coupling between neighbouring bases, and in the activation energy of hole hopping. We describe the results in terms of thermal activated hopping model together with the ladder-based mechanical model for DNA proposed by de Gennes.
Details
- Piezoresistivity in Single DNA Molecules
- Bruot, Christopher (Author)
- Palma, Julio (Author)
- Xiang, Limin (Author)
- Mujica, Vladimiro (Author)
- Ratner, Mark A. (Author)
- Tao, Nongjian (Author)
- Biodesign Institute (Contributor)
- Digital object identifier: 10.1038/ncomms9032
- Identifier TypeInternational standard serial numberIdentifier Value2041-1723
- The final version of this article, as published in Nature Communications, can be viewed online at: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9032
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Bruot, C., Palma, J. L., Xiang, L., Mujica, V., Ratner, M. A., & Tao, N. (2015). Piezoresistivity in single DNA molecules. Nature Communications, 6, 8032. doi:10.1038/ncomms9032