Issue 12, 2013

Electrically conductive magnetic nanowires using an electrochemical DNA-templating route

Abstract

The fabrication of electrically conducting magnetic nanowires has been achieved using electrochemical DNA-templating of iron. In this approach, binding of the Fe2+ cations to the DNA “template” molecules has been utilised to promote growth along the molecular axis. Formation of Fe within the product material was verified by XRD and XPS studies, which confirmed an iron/oxide “core–shell” structure. The effectiveness of the DNA duplex to direct the metal growth in one dimension was highlighted by AFM which reveals the product material to comprise high aspect ratio nanostructured architectures. These “nanowires” were observed to have morphologies consisting of densely packed linear arrangements of metal particles along the template, with wire diameters up to 26 nm. The structures were confirmed to be electrically conductive, as expected for such Fe-based materials, and to display superparamagnetic behaviour, consistent with the small size and particulate nature of the nanowires.

Graphical abstract: Electrically conductive magnetic nanowires using an electrochemical DNA-templating route

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Feb 2013
Accepted
17 Apr 2013
First published
24 Apr 2013
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale, 2013,5, 5349-5359

Electrically conductive magnetic nanowires using an electrochemical DNA-templating route

S. M. D. Watson, H. D. A. Mohamed, B. R. Horrocks and A. Houlton, Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 5349 DOI: 10.1039/C3NR00716B

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