Nanowires are at the center of a plethora of research projects occurring in an array of university labs. But a breakthrough by Harvard scientists could broaden the potential of nanowires for biosensing applications—and it has the self-assembling structures all bent out of shape.
Harvard chemistry researchers have figured out how to introduce fixed 120-degree joints, dubbed “stereocenters,” into straight nanowires. By transforming the 1-D structures into complex 2- and 3-D shapes, the scientists believe that enhanced methods of intra and extracellular electrical recording could be made possible.
Controlling nanowire structure has proven difficult in the past because the materials are self-assembling. The Harvard researchers were able to circumvent this obstacle, however, by interrupting the growth process. “The researchers halted growth of the 1-D nanostructures for 15 seconds by removing key gaseous reactants from the chemical brew in which the process was taking place, replacing these reactants after joints had been introduced into the nanostructures. This approach resulted in a 40 percent yield of bent nanowires, which can then be purified to achieve higher yields,” according to a recent article in HarvardScience.
Appearing as kinks in the no-longer-linear nanowire structure, the stereocenters, hypothesize the researchers, pave the way for the introduction of self-labeled nanodevices exhibiting some sort of functionaliity at the designated nanoscale points.
Tags: Biosensors, Nanotechnology, nanowires
