The miniaturization of bioelectronic intracellular probes with a wide dynamic frequency range can open up opportunities to study biological structures inaccessible by existing methods in a minimally invasive manner. Here, we report the design, fabrication, and demonstration of intracellular bioelectronic devices with probe sizes less than 10 nm. The devices are based on a nanowire-nanotube hete...

Beta-solenoids are a class of protein nanotube structures that are observed in virulence factors, prion proteins and amyloid fibrils. Here we investigate the compressive strength of the triple-beta-helix solenoid structure found in the cell puncture needle of the bacteriophage T4 virus. We characterize the compressive mechanical strength of this protein nanotube using full-atomistic molecular d...

In this study, we present a broadband nano-photodetector based on single-layer graphene (SLG)-carbon nanotube thin film (CNTF) Schottky junction. It was found that the as-fabricated device exhibited obvious sensitivity to a wide range of illumination, with peak sensitivity at 600 and 920 nm. In addition, the SLG-CNTF device had a fast response speed (τr = 68 μs, τf = 78 μs) and good reproducibi...

H igh-κdielectrics have been actively pursued to replace SiO 2 as gate insulators for silicon devices 1. The relatively low κ of SiO 2 (at 3.9) limits its use in transistors as gate lengths scale down to tens of nanometres. High-κ gate insulators afford high capacitance without relying on ultra-small film thickness, thus allowing for efficient charge injection into transistor channels and meanw...

and To my sisters Lyna Maria and Ana Maritza Without their patience, understanding support and most of all love, the completion of this dissertation would not have been possible. iii ACKOWLEDGMENTS My thanks and special appreciation to my advisor and mentor Dr. Ashok Srivastava. I am very thankful for his guidance, patience and understanding throughout my dissertation research. I would have not...

Bolometric Response of Superconducting Microbridges and Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Daniel Ferguson Santavicca 2009 A bolometer is a device that uses a temperature-dependent resistance to detect power. The strongly temperature-dependent resistance of a superconductor biased on its superconducting phase transition can be used to make an extremely sensitive bolometric detector. We have develop...

Recent reports have shown that nanoscale electronic devices can be used to detect a change in electrical properties when receptor proteins bind to their corresponding antibodies functionalized on the surface of the device, in extracts from as few as ten lysed tumor cells. We hypothesized that nanotube-antibody devices could sensitively and specifically detect entire live cancer cells. We report...

We report a unique gaseous formaldehyde sensing chip based on a combination between patterned single-walled carbon nanotube field effect transistors and a precisely controlled aqueous layer with photopolymerized polyelectrolytic gels. The proposed system reliably detects 0.1 ppb level formaldehyde gas, suggesting a new type of indoor air quality monitoring device.

This article provides an overview of nanotechnology and biotechnology research at NASA Ames Research Center and covers current results in the areas of carbon nanotube (CNT) growth and characterization and functionalization, nanotubes in scanning probe microscopy, inorganic nanowires, biosensors, chemical sensors, nanoelectronics optoelectronics, computational nanotechnology, quantum device simu...

A novel method for the fabrication of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) combines acrylic polymers and single wall carbon nanotube network electrodes. DEAs made using this technique do not require prestretching, have extremely thin electrodes, and can be actuated at low voltage. The method is applied to create a multimorph device with nine actuation modes based on just four inputs.