Conduction of DNA molecules attached to a disconnected array of metallic Ga nanoparticles

Abstract

We have investigated the conduction over a wide range of temperature of $\lambda$ DNA molecules deposited across slits etched through a few nanometers thick platinum film. The slits are insulating before DNA deposition but contain metallic Ga nanoparticles, a result of focused ion beam etching. When these nanoparticles are superconducting we find that they can induce superconductivity through the DNA molecules, even though the main electrodes are non superconducting. These results indicate that minute metallic particles can easily transfer charge carriers to attached DNA molecules and provide a possible reconciliation between apparently contradictory previous experimental results concerning the length over which DNA molecules can conduct electricity.

References in corpus (3)

• Conductivity of DNA probed by conducting-atomic force microscopy: effects of contact electrode, DNA structure, surface interactions
• Superconductivity in a Molecular Metal Cluster Compound
• Localization and delocalization of charges injected in DNA

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Unified model for conductance through DNA with the Landauer-Buttiker formalism
• Possibility of a (bi)polaron high-temperature superconductivity in Poly A/ Poly T DNA duplexes
• Dependence of the nature of the Holstein polaron motion in a polynucleotide chain subjected to a constant electric field on the initial polaron state and the parameters of the chain
• Long range electronic tranport in DNA molecules deposited across a disconnected array of metallic nanoparticles