title: The collagen assisted self-assembly of silicon nanowires.
abstract: The paper reports on self-assembly of silicon nanowire junctions assisted by protocollagen, a low cost soluble long fiber protein and precursor of collagen fibrils. First, the collagen was combed on an octadecyl-terminated silicon surface with gold electrodes. Then the combed surface was exposed to an aqueous suspension of silicon nanowires. In order to increase electrostatic interactions between the positively charged collagen and the nanowires, the nanowires were chemically modified with negatively charged sulfonate groups. The interaction of collagen with the sulfonated nanowires, which mimics the native collagen/heparin sulfate interaction, induced self-assembly of the nanowires localized between gold electrodes. The proof of concept for the formation of spontaneous electrode-nanowire-electrode junctions using collagen as a template was supported by current-voltage measurements.
authors.affiliation: IEMN, UMR8520, Department ISEN, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Billel
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Salhi
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vaurette
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grandidier
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stiévenard
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Melnyk
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Coffinier
authors.forename: Rabah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boukherroub
mesh_terms: D004560:Electricity; D004566:Electrodes; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011347:Procollagen / Q000737:chemistry*; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013451:Sulfonic Acids / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011347:Procollagen; D013451:Sulfonic Acids; D006046:Gold; D012825:Silicon