Selection and Functionalization of Germanium Nanowires for Bio-Sensing

ACS Omega. 2022 Sep 23;7(39):35288-35296. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c04775. eCollection 2022 Oct 4.

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the use of dielectrophoresis to align germanium nanowire arrays to realize nanowire-based diodes and their subsequent use for bio-sensing. After establishing that dielectrophoresis is a controllable and repeatable fabrication method to create devices from germanium nanowires, we use the optimum process conditions to form a series of diodes. These are subsequently functionalized with an aptamer, which is able to bind specifically to the spike protein of SARS-Cov2 and investigated as a potential sensor. We observe a linear increase in the source to drain current as the concentration of spike protein is increased from 100 fM/L to 1 nM/L.