Title: Piezoelectricity in ribonucleosides and deoxynucleosides microcrystals via piezoresponse force microscopy

Authors: Igor Bdikin; Vladimir Bystrov; Budhendra Kumar Singh

Addresses: National Research University of Electronic Technology "MIET", Bld. 1, Shokin Square, 124498, Moscow, Russia; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Centre for Mechanical Technology and Automation, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal ' Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology, Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow district, 142290, Russia ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Centre for Mechanical Technology and Automation, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Abstract: In this work we used piezoresponse force microscopy methods to find out that several nucleobases are not only piezoelectric but also ferroelectric. The pronounced ferroelectricity was confirmed by the visualisation of as-grown and artificially created domains, with pronounced hysteresis (measured locally and in pressed samples). The knowledge of the local electromechanical properties of nucleic acids might be helpful for developing biomedical devices to obtain genetic information from DNA sequences and for a complete physicochemical description of the elementary building blocks of living forms.

Keywords: nucleobases; microcrystals; piezoelectricity; ferroelectricity; piezoresponse force microscopy; PFM; ribonucleosides; deoxynucleosides; microcrystals; hysteresis; biomedical devices; genetic information; DNA sequences; physicochemical description; elementary building blocks; living forms; nanotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2016.080369

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2016 Vol.13 No.10/11/12, pp.891 - 902

Published online: 16 Nov 2016 *

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