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Computational studies investigating the effect of sequencing and environment on the conductance of DNA nanowires

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2013

Gareth Jones
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff, UK CF24 3AA
Watheq Elias
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff, UK CF24 3AA Dept of Physics, Koya University, Erbil, Iraq.
M. Elliott
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff, UK CF24 3AA
C. C. Matthai*
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff, UK CF24 3AA
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Abstract

Understanding electron transfer in molecular systems is important, especially in the context of molecular electronics. With the desire to incorporate biological molecules in molecular electronic devices, there is a need to establish the relative importance of the various factors like the environment and the molecular structure (DNA sequence) on the electrical conduction. There has been much debate about mechanisms of electron transfer in biological molecules. We have conducted a systematic study of electron conduction across DNA molecular segments using the non-equilibrium Green function (NEGF) method. The Hamiltonian matrix elements were determined within the framework of the Extended Hückel Approximation. In considering (CG) base pair sequences, we find that the conductance decreases with segment length and that the substitution of (AT) base-pairs also reduces the conductance. When the DNA segments are in aqueous solution, the conductance is found to almost double in magnitude.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

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References

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