Article abstract
Nature Materials 1, 253 - 257 (2002)
Published online: 24 November 2002 | doi:10.1038/nmat779
There is a Corrigendum (January 2003) associated with this Article.
DNA-modified nanocrystalline diamond thin-films as stable, biologically active substrates
Wensha Yang1, Orlando Auciello2, James E. Butler3, Wei Cai1, John A. Carlisle2, Jennifer E. Gerbi2, Dieter M. Gruen2, Tanya Knickerbocker1, Tami L. Lasseter1, John N. Russell, Jr.3, Lloyd M. Smith1 & Robert J. Hamers1
Abstract
Diamond, because of its electrical and chemical properties, may be a suitable material for integrated sensing and signal processing. But methods to control chemical or biological modifications on diamond surfaces have not been established. Here, we show that nanocrystalline diamond thin-films covalently modified with DNA oligonucleotides provide an extremely stable, highly selective platform in subsequent surface hybridization processes. We used a photochemical modification scheme to chemically modify clean, H-terminated nanocrystalline diamond surfaces grown on silicon substrates, producing a homogeneous layer of amine groups that serve as sites for DNA attachment. After linking DNA to the amine groups, hybridization reactions with fluorescently tagged complementary and non-complementary oligonucleotides showed no detectable non-specific adsorption, with extremely good selectivity between matched and mismatched sequences. Comparison of DNA-modified ultra-nanocrystalline diamond films with other commonly used surfaces for biological modification, such as gold, silicon, glass and glassy carbon, showed that diamond is unique in its ability to achieve very high stability and sensitivity while also being compatible with microelectronics processing technologies. These results suggest that diamond thin-films may be a nearly ideal substrate for integration of microelectronics with biological modification and sensing.
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, Wisonsin 53706, USA
- Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
- Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20375, USA
Correspondence to: Robert J. Hamers1 e-mail: rjhamers@facstaff.wisc.edu
