Electronic signature of DNA bases via Z-shaped graphene nanoribbon with a nanopore

• Main Authors: Asma Wasfi, Falah Awwad, Ahmad I. Ayesh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-06-01
• Series: Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X
• Subjects: DNA sequencing; Nanopore; Graphene; Nanoribbons; First principle quantum transport; Electronic transport
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590137019300019

DNA sequencing witnessed significant research efforts to improve its efficiency and to reduce the production cost. Successful DNA sequencing of quick and low cost techniques associate with the personalized medicine as well as procedures and the different genetics subfields of applications. In this article, a novel two-terminal z-shaped sensor is developed and studied to detect the sequence of DNA nucleobases. The z-shaped sensor consists of two metallic zigzag graphene nanoribbon (ZGNR), a semiconducting channel made of armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR), and a nanopore in the middle of the channel through which DNA nucleobases are translocated. First-principle modeling and non-equilibrium Green's function along with density functional theory (NEGF + DFT), are utilized to investigate the developed device. Various electronic characteristics are investigated, including transmission spectrum, conductance, and electrical current of DNA nucleobases inside the graphene sensors' nanopore. In particular, these properties are studied with variation of nucleobase orientation. The developed sensor resulted in unique signatures for the individual four DNA nucleobases placed within the nanopore.