Monitoring and Driving Chemical Response with Single Molecule Nanocircuits

用单分子纳米电路监测和驱动化学反应

• 批准号: 1231910
• 负责人: Philip Collins
• 金额: $ 30.37万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1231910&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Monitoring; Driving; Chemical; Response; Single

AbstractThe idea of molecular electronics is usually stated in terms of miniaturization, scaling, and the difficulties of extending silicon technologies. Aside from digital logic, however, molecule-based architectures could also be novel transducers of chemical activity. For example, single molecule electronic devices might be used to merge solid state electronics with the dynamic behavior of constituent biomolecules. This novel repurposing might be the most transformative and impactful outcome of fabricating devices at molecular scales, since no electronic product today incorporates proteins, DNA, or any other biomolecule in a functional way. Even if molecular devices never compete with traditional digital electronics as memory or transistor devices, these alternate purposes represent untapped new fields with tremendous potential import.For example, imagine a silicon chip device that could report the function of a particular enzyme, or medicine, or catalyst particle. Directly reporting chemical activity with a solid state device could give users new insights into chemistry happening in real time. This new information would enable the efficient development of new drugs, or the in situ testing of catalysts to check their effectiveness. This project aims to experimentally demonstrate and test this premise, and furthermore to monitor chemical activity with molecule-by-molecule precision. The work is made possible by a recently developed architecture in which single molecules are integrated into functioning carbon nanotube transistor devices. The nanotube conductance records chemical events in real time with microsecond resolution, as the attached molecule interacts with its immediate environment. Past work has successfully recorded complex, time varying signals associated single molecule chemistry. However, the generality of the devices remains unproven, and there is no understanding of how chemical, electronic, and mechanical degrees of freedom combine to generate the signals of interest. A primary goal of this project will be to develop an understanding these possible contributions, in order to develop design rules for how to refine and control the mechanisms at work.Intellectual Merit: This proposal makes effective use of recent discoveries to push forward the field of molecular electronics, and it does so in a direction of immediate practicality. The goals are designed to improve our fundamental understanding of signal transduction in single molecule devices, a critical step before such devices can be commercialized for practical applications. The project is timely and well-positioned because it leverages other ongoing research efforts, it is immediately technically feasible, and suggestive preliminary data exist.Broader Impacts: If successful, this project may help develop an electronic device having wide-ranging commercial significance. As a high sensitivity and high bandwidth sensor it could benefit a wide spectrum of the medical and pharmaceutical industries through new diagnostic and research capabilities, independent of fluorophores or other optical equipment. There are also potential benefits to chemical processing generally, through improved process monitoring and control. The project will also directly support the research training of junior scientists, and the training of science majors interested in becoming K-12 science teachers.

摘要分子电子的思想通常是在微型化，缩放和扩展硅技术的困难方面所陈述的。但是，除了数字逻辑外，基于分子的架构也可能是化学活性的新型传感器。 例如，单分子电子设备可用于将固态电子设备与组成生物分子的动态行为合并。 这种新颖的重新利用可能是分子尺度制造设备的最具变色和影响力的结果，因为今天没有电子产品以功能性的方式融合了蛋白质，DNA或任何其他生物分子。 即使分子设备从未与传统的数字电子设备作为内存或晶体管设备竞争，这些替代目的也代表了具有巨大潜在导入的未开发的新领域。 用固态设备直接报告化学活动可以使用户实时对化学反应的新见解。 这些新信息将使新药有效开发，或者对催化剂的原位测试来检查其有效性。 该项目旨在在实验上证明和测试此前提，然后以逐个分子精度来监测化学活性。 最近开发的结构使这项工作成为可能，在该体系结构中，单分子整合到功能性的碳纳米管晶体管设备中。 随着附着的分子与其直接环境相互作用，纳米管电导通过微秒分辨率实时记录化学事件。 过去的工作成功记录了复杂的，随时间变化的信号相关的单分子化学。 但是，设备的通用性仍然未经证实，并且对化学，电子和机械自由度如何结合起来产生感兴趣的信号。该项目的主要目标是建立理解这些可能的贡献，以制定设计规则，以了解如何完善和控制工作中的机制。智能优点：该提案有效利用了最近的发现来推动分子电子的领域，并且它朝着即时实用的方向发展。 这些目标旨在提高我们对单分子设备信号转导的基本理解，这是可以将这些设备用于实际应用商业化之前的关键步骤。 该项目是及时且位置良好的，因为它利用了其他正在进行的研究工作，在技术上是可行的，并且存在启发性的初步数据。Broader的影响：如果成功，该项目可能有助于开发具有广泛商业意义的电子设备。 作为高灵敏度和高带宽传感器，它可以通过新的诊断和研究能力（独立于荧光团或其他光学设备）来使广泛的医疗和制药行业受益。 通过改进的过程监测和控制，通常可以通过改进化学加工来进行化学处理的潜在好处。 该项目还将直接支持初级科学家的研究培训，以及有兴趣成为K-12科学教师的科学专业培训。