Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials Based Biosensors

Abstract

Graphene became the first 2D (two-dimensional) nanostructure which was discovered in 2004. After the synthesis of graphene revealed its unique properties, researchers set out to discover new 2D nanomaterials: Phosphorene is one of the new 2D nanomaterials. It can be described as a counterpart of graphene. Like graphene, it has excellent biocompatibility and unique properties making phosphorene very suitable for biosensing applications. Two forms of phosphorene, which are called as BP (Black Phosphorene) and BuP (Blue Phosphorene), have been demonstrated by both experimental and theoretical studies. BuP possesses a buckled honeycomb lattice, whereas BP exhibits a puckered non-planar structure. There is now increasing interest in the unique biological and medical properties of these 2D materials. Our main focus is on the interaction between DNA/RNA nucleobases (NB) and monolayer graphene/phosphorene. Better understanding of the interaction between DNA/RNA nucleobases with these 2D surfaces will provide a better understanding of the same interaction mechanisms for amino acids, peptides and proteins. According to both experimental and theoretical studies, the interactions of biomolecules and 2D materials are long-ranged and very weak. Considering the nature of this interaction, it is very important to focus on vdW (Van der Waals) interactions. The application of some external mechanisms, such as charging, can modify the strength of binding. In this work, the binding mechanism of DNA/RNA nucleobases on 2D monolayer graphene/phosphorene has been studied using the DFT (Density Functional Theory) formalism including vdW-DF2 scheme. In this chapter, we report on the trends of the binding energies and on the effects of the charging on the structural and electronic properties of the graphene/phosphorene nucleobases systems. The results presented in this study will be useful for advances in biosensing applications.