Carbon nanotube transistor controlled by a biological ion pump gate.

Huang, Shih-Chieh J; Artyukhin, Alexander B; Misra, Nipun; Martinez, Julio A; Stroeve, Pieter A; Grigoropoulos, Costas P; Ju, Jiann-Wen W; Noy, Aleksandr · Nano Lett · 2010

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We report a hybrid bionanoelectronic transistor that has a local ATP-powered protein gate. ATP-dependent activity of a membrane ion pump, Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase, embedded in a lipid membrane covering the carbon nanotube, modulates the transistor output current by up to 40%. The ion pump gates the device by shifting the pH of the water layer between the lipid bilayer and nanotube surface. This transistor is a versatile bionanoelectronic platform that can incorporate other membrane proteins.

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