Room temperature negative differential resistance in DNA-based molecular devices

Abstract

A molecular device fabricated from metallic deoxyribonucleic acid (M-DNA) exhibits a negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior. When two gold electrodes were connected by Ni(2+)-chelated DNA, which was converted from lambda-DNA, not only was the conductivity of DNA improved, but a NDR device was formed as a full cyclic voltage sweep was applied to measure its current versus voltage characteristics at room temperature and in an ambient environment. Such electronic characteristics of a M-DNA device may have been caused by the redox reactions of Ni ions. This finding provides a simple way to construct electrical nanodevices from biological molecules.