Detection of DNA nucleotides with Nanopores and Nanogaps from 2D Materials beyond Graphene: First Principle Studies

Sequencing the DNA at the resolution of individual DNA bases is an important problem whose solution could lead to cost-effective methods for sequencing the DNA, leading to revolutions in the field of genomics and personalized medicine. We present the results of computational studies on nano-bioelectronic devices combining the superb properties of 2D materials beyond graphene with DNA nucleotides. We anticipate our studies to shed useful insights that can help to address two major challenges in current sequencing technologies:1) strong coupling between 2D materials and nucleotides is expected to produce large signal-to-noise ratio compared to devices using graphene due to adsorption of nucleotides on graphene surface, or devices based on probing ionic currents, which often produce very low signal-to-noise ratio, 2) strong coupling between 2D materials and nucleotides is anticipated to produce large tunneling currents cable of accomplishing both spatial and temporal resolution at the single-base level. The performance of our proposed device for single-base sequencing will be evaluated by employing density functional theory and the nonequilibrium Green’s function method to investigate the transverse conductance properties of nucleotides inside the nanogap or nanopore.