Electrical characterization of nanoparticle and protein networks

93 Pages·2017·13.38 MB·English

by  Anastasia Holovchenko

Delft University of Technology

Electrical characterization of nanoparticle and protein networks
Holovchenko, Anastasia
DOI
10.4233/uuid:4b1f83ad-df5c-4f7f-9dde-d3ea2a6b79ec
Publication date
2017
Document Version
Final published version
Citation (APA)
Holovchenko, A. (2017). Electrical characterization of nanoparticle and protein networks.
https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:4b1f83ad-df5c-4f7f-9dde-d3ea2a6b79ec
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ELECTRICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF
NANOPARTICLE AND PROTEIN NETWORKS

ELECTRICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF
NANOPARTICLE AND PROTEIN NETWORKS
Proefschrift
terverkrijgingvandegraadvandoctor
aandeTechnischeUniversiteitDelft,
opgezagvandeRectorMagnificusprof.ir.K.C.A.M.Luyben,
voorzittervanhetCollegevoorPromoties,
inhetopenbaarteverdedigenopdinsdag4juli2017om12:30uur
door
Anastasia HOLOVCHENKO
MasterofScienceinPhysicalandBiomedicalElectronics,SumyStateUniversity,Sumy,
Ukraine
geborenteSumy,Ukraine.
Thisdissertationhasbeenapprovedbythepromotor
Prof.dr.ir.H.S.J.vanderZant
Compositionofthedoctoralcommittee:
RectorMagnificus, voorzitter
Prof.dr.ir.H.S.J.vanderZant TechnischeUniversiteitDelft
Independentmembers:
Prof.dr.H.W.Zandbergen TechnischeUniversiteitDelft
Prof.dr.M.Dogterom TechnischeUniversiteitDelft
Prof.dr.P.J.Peters MaastrichtUniversity
Prof.dr.ir.L.M.K.Vandersypen TechnischeUniversiteitDelft
Prof.dr.P.G.Steeneken TechnischeUniversiteitDelft
Keywords: chargetransport, two-terminalmeasurements, proteinconductance,
biosensors,proteinnetworks,nanoelectrodes
Printedby: Gildeprint-Enschede
Front&Back: A.Holovchenko
Copyright©2017byA.Holovchenko
CasimirPhDseries,Delft-Leiden2017-23
ISBN978-90-8593-307-6
Anelectronicversionofthisdissertationisavailableat
http://repository.tudelft.nl/.
Itisonlywiththeheartthatonecanseerightly;
whatisessentialisinvisibletotheeye.
AntoinedeSaint-Exupery

1
I
NTRODUCTION
Inthischapter,aclassificationofnano-objectsisintroduced.Thestartingpointistogivea
definitionofnano-objectsandclassifythembymeansofsizeandmaterialtheyaremade
of. Afterthat,wediscusswaysofstudyingphysicalandchemicalpropertiesoftheseob-
jects. Finally,wedescribeknownapplicationsofnano-objectsinelectronicsandbiosens-
ingandsuggestnewwaysoftheiroperation.
1
2 1.INTRODUCTION
1 1.1. CLASSIFICATION OF NANO-OBJECTS
Peoplethroughouttimehavebeentryingtounderstandandexplaintheenvironment
they live in. Driven by this curiosity, and most importantly by finding answers to the
questions “Why?” and “How?”, scientists have made a chain of brilliant discoveries in
physics,chemistryandbiology. However,thereisstillmoretodiscover. Feynman’slec-
ture“There’splentyofroomatthebottom”givenin1959drewattentionofthescientific
worldtothephysicsatthenanoscale(10-9m).Insubsequentyears,scientifictoolswere
gettingmoreandmoreadvancedallowingtorevealthehiddenpropertiesofverysmall
objectssuchasDNA,proteinsormolecules,whichwasnotpossiblebefore. Inthisthe-
sis,thesesmallobjectswillbereferredtoas“nano-objects”.Importantlyeachobjecthas
itsownuniquesize,shapeandproperties,mostofwhichareyettobediscovered.
Onemayask:“Howdoscientistsstudynano-objectsiftheyaresosmall?”Atthebe-
ginning,theydidthatsimplybyvisualinspection,i.e.,byobservingit.Ofcourse,because
theobjectsaresosmall,itcannotbedonebythebareeyeandspecialtoolshavetobe
used.Ifonewantstoknowthesizeortheshapeofanano-object,transmission-electron
microscopy(TEM)isthebesttooltogofor. InaTEManbeamreachesthespecimen
whichcontainsthesmallobject. Basedonelectron-specimeninteractionanimageis
formed,fromwhichthesizeandshapeoftheobjectcanbeextracted. InChapter2dif-
ferenttechnologiesusedforstudyingnano-objectsaredescribedinmoredetails.
Figure1.1:Material-basedclassificationofnano-objects:(a)Transmissionelectronmicroscopy(TEM)image
ofgoldnanoparticlesrepresentinginorganicnano-objects. Scalebaris50nm. Imageadaptedfrom[1]. (b)
TEMimageofCdTe/ZnSnanoparticleswithanaveragesizeof30nm. Imageadaptedfrom[2]. Scalebaris
50nm. Organicnano-objectsrepresentedby(c)amicelle,[3]whichisasupramolecularassemblywithhy-
drophilicregions. (d)Metalloproteinferritincontainsbothanorganicshellandaferrihydritemineralcore,
whichcontainsabout4500iron(Fe3+)atoms.Imageadaptedfrom.[4]
Thematerialcompositionofnano-objectscanbeeitherinorganicororganic,with
metallic (e.g. gold) nanoparticles and semiconducting (e.g. GaAS) quantum dots be-
ingexamplesoftheformer.Organicnano-objects(e.g.polypeptidechainsofaprotein)
1.2.CHARACTERIZATIONANDAPPLICATIONOFNANO-OBJECTS 3
aregenerallyspeakinglessconductivethanmetallicones,buttheyarebiologicallycom- 1
patibleandmostlycomefromnatureorcanbechemicallysynthesized. Inaddition,to
theabove-mentionedexamples, thereisanothersubsetofnano-objectsthathasboth
organicandmetalliccomponents,whichcanbecalledhybridnano-objects. Thisclass
isextremelyinterestingbecauseitcombinesbothbiocompatibilityoftheorganiccom-
ponentsandthehighconductivityofthemetallicpart. Figure1.1showsnano-object
classificationbasedonthematerialcomposition. Severalexamplesofsuchobjectswill
bedescribedinthisthesisinChapter4,Chapter5andChapter6.
1.2. CHARACTERIZATIONANDAPPLICATIONOFNANO-OBJECTS
Oncethesizeandshapearedefined,onecouldperformamoredetailedcharacterization
ofthephysicalandchemicalproperties. Oneofthewaysofaddressingasmallobjectis
toconduct“electricalmeasurements”onthem. Likewithelectronmicroscopy,inthis
methodasignalissentintothenano-object(e.g. anelectronflowatapre-setbiasvolt-
age)andthereadoutsignalisreceivedbackwhentheelectronshavepassedthroughit
andthecurrentismeasured. Thedifferencebetweenthe“input”and“output”signal
mightindicateauniquefeatureoftheobjectthatcanbethentranslatedto,forinstance,
a "real" biological meaning, although this is often a challenging task. Characterizing
nano-objectsinanywaywouldgiveusmoreinsightonhowtheyfunction, whichisa
ratherfundamentalquestion.
Ontheotherhand,itturnsoutthatsmallobjectswithuniquefeaturescanbeappli-
cable, forexampleinelectronics. Transistors, themainbuildingblocksofelectronics,
aresmallerand“smarter”witheveryfollowinggeneration.Buteachtechnologyhaslim-
itations,andfortransistorsbuiltwithsilicontechnology,thisistheirsizeandtheheat
consumption. The idea of using small nano-objects, such as molecules or nanopar-
ticles, came after the limitations of Si-based technology became obvious.[5] The pro-
poseddiode-likecurrent-voltage(I-V)characteristiccalculatedin1974byAviramand
Ratner[6] opened the door to the molecular nanoworld, and led to the formation of
a whole new field that is now called Molecular Electronics. Scientists became driven
bytheideathatelectroniccomponentscanbescaleddownevenmorebyusingsingle
moleculesornanoparticles.
ThesuccessofMolecularElectronicsinmakingsingle-moleculetransistors,[7]logic
gates[8,9]andmemorydevices[10]broughtupanotherideatousebiologicalspecies
as components for electronic circuits. In fact, the first experiment in this field goes
backto18thcenturywithLuigiGalvaniandhisexperimentonfroglegs. Thatwasthe
first proof that animal tissues can transfer electricity. But this so called “animal elec-
tricity” phenomenon faced criticism and got forgotten till 1943,[11] when the experi-
ments in the field of biological voltaic electricity were renewed. The first steps in the
fieldofBioelectronics[12,13]weremadewhilestudyingelectricaltransmissionthrough
cells[14]andneurons[15]integratedintoasolid-statechipplatform.
This unique technology[16, 17] not only allowed to integrate the protein onto the
chipandpotentiallyuseitasanelectroniccomponent, butalsotostudyitschemical
andphysicalproperties;ittherebygaveinsightinanumberofimportantbiologicalpro-
cesses,suchasrespirationandphotosynthesis[18].