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Functionalization of semiconductors for biosensing applications

Abstract:

Functionalization of semiconductors (SC) has been widely used for various electronic, photonic and biomedical applications. In this paper, we report on selective functionalization achieved by peptides that reveal specific recognition of the SC surfaces. A M13 bacteriophage library was used to screen 1010 different 12-mer peptide on various SC substrates to successfully isolate after 3 cycles one specific peptide for the majority of semiconductors. Our results conclude that GaAs(100) and GaN(0001) retain the same sequence of 12-mer peptide, suggesting that the specificity does not depend on the crystallographic structure but it depends on the chemical composition and the electronegativity of the surface, thus on the orientation of the material. We also note the presence of at least one proline (Pro) amino acid in each peptide, and the presence of the histidine (His) in the specific peptides for the II-VI class SC. Pro imprints a constraint to the peptide to facilitate adhesion to the surface, whereas the basic side chain His is known for its affinity towards some of the elements of class II SC. Finally, fluorescence microscopy has been employed to demonstrate the preferential attachment of the peptide to their specific SC surface in close proximity to a surface of different chemical and structural composition. The use of selected peptides expressed by phage display can be extended to encompass a variety of nanostructured semiconductor based devices.