Graphene Nanopores
Event details
| Date | 01.07.2010 |
| Hour | 11:00 |
| Speaker | Dr. Slaven Garaj, Department of Physics, Harvard University |
| Location |
PHL1503
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Graphene – atomically thin membrane of sp2-bonded carbon – has been recently a subject of intense
research, mainly for its potential electronic applications. Here we present novel aspects of graphene:
its properties in ionic solutions, bio-sensing capabilities, and its prospects for high-throughput
physical DNA sequencing.
We investigated ionic conductivity perpendicular to the graphene membrane separating two
reservoirs filled with ionic solutions. Despite this membrane being only one atomic layer thick, we
find it is a remarkable ionic insulator, stable over prolonged periods of time and for wide range of
physical and chemical parameters. When a nanometer sized pore is fabricated in the graphene
membrane, its conductance increases several orders of magnitude. Using nanopore to locally probe
the graphene–liquid interaction, we showed that the membrane’s effective insulating thickness is
less than one nanometer. This makes the graphene nanopores an ideal platform for a single molecule
detector, with potentials for sub-nanometer resolution along the length of the bio-molecule. We
demonstrated the feasibility of such device by detecting conformation of many individual DNA
molecules.
Practical information
- General public
- Free