Electrical Modulation of Graphene by the Self-Assembly of DNA-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles

Abstract

We report on a new approach for controlling the electrical properties of graphene by the introduction of a highly ordered array of DNA-grafted gold nanoparticles. The arrangement of these nanoparticles was highly influenced by the surface wetting properties of graphene. With different graphene UV-irradiation times, the ordered domain size of nanoparticles increased, which, in turn, affected the electrical properties of graphene. Upon measuring the electrical properties using graphene field effect transistors, the ambipolar characteristics of graphene (Dirac point voltage of similar to 20 V) only appeared when a large area of graphene was covered by the monolayer of hexagonal, close-packed gold nanoparticles, resulting in the n-doping of graphene. It is conceivable that a new way of modulating graphene properties can provide beneficial information and can be used for relevant future applications.