Morphological and electrical characteristics of biofunctionalized layers on carbon nanotubes

In this study we have investigated the morphology and electrical characteristics of protein layers non-covalently adsorbed onto an irregular network of carbon nanotubes (CNT). The layer system presents a prototype for an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor based on CNT-networks. The complementary characterization techniques AFM and ellipsometry give the overall morphology of the functionalized layer system and in combination with concentration dependent measurements a detailed image of the adsorption dynamics. The advantage of CNT-based FETs is their huge surface area, which makes them extremely sensitive even to weak adsorption processes. The here-presented comparative investigations clearly show that significant changes in the transport properties of the CNTs occur much below one monolayer. This sensitivity is an important condition for the future development of efficient biodevices with optimal performance parameters for the detection of pathogenic microorganisms.