Bent nanowires and related probing of species
AssigneePresident and Fellows of Harvard College
InventorsBozhi Tian, Ping Xie, Thomas J. Kempa, Charles M. Lieber, Itzhaq Cohen-Karni, Quan Qing, Xiaojie Duan
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Abstract
Kinked nanowires are used for measuring electrical potentials inside simple cells. An improved intracellular entrance is achieved by modifying the kinked nanowires with phospholipids.
Claims127
An article, comprising:
- a nanoscale wire having at least one kink, wherein at least a portion of a surface of the nanoscale wire is amphiphilic.
An article, comprising:
- a nanoscale wire having at least one kink, wherein at least a portion of a surface of the nanoscale wire is capable of fusing with a lipid bilayer.
An article, comprising:
- a nanoscale wire having at least one kink, wherein at least a portion of the nanoscale wire is capable of penetrating a lipid bilayer using chemical interactions.
A method, comprising:
- contacting a cell membrane with a nanoscale object;
- and
- allowing the cell membrane to fuse with the nanoscale object.
A method, comprising:
- contacting a cell membrane with a nanoscale object;
- and
- allowing the nanoscale object to penetrate the cell membrane using chemical interactions.
A method, comprising:
- penetrating a membrane of a cell with a semiconductor nanoscale object;
- and
- electrically communicating with the cell.
A method, comprising:
- providing a cell;
- and
- determining an electrical potential inside the cell using a field effect.
A device, comprising:
- a substrate having a plurality of nanoscale objects disposed thereon, wherein at least a portion of a surface of each of the plurality of nanoscale objects is amphiphilic.
A device, comprising:
- a substrate having a plurality of nanoscale objects disposed thereon, wherein at least a portion of a surface of each of the plurality of nanoscale objects is capable of fusing with a lipid bilayer.
A device, comprising:
- a substrate having a plurality of nanoscale objects disposed thereon, wherein each of the plurality of nanoscale objects is capable of penetrating a lipid bilayer using chemical interactions.
A method, comprising:
- contacting a cell membrane with a device, the device comprising a substrate having a plurality of nanoscale objects disposed thereon;
- and
- allowing at least some of the plurality of nanoscale objects to fuse with the cell membrane.
The method of any one of claims 88-90, wherein at least some of the nanoscale objects have at least one kink.
The method of any one of claims 88-91, wherein at least some of the nanoscale objects are semiconductor nanowires.
The method of any one of claims 88-92, wherein at least some of the nanoscale objects are carbon nanotubes.
A method, comprising:
- contacting a cell membrane with a device, the device comprising a substrate having a plurality of nanoscale objects disposed thereon;
- penetrating the cell membrane with at least some of the plurality of nanoscale objects;
- and
- determining an electrical potential inside the cell using field effect.
A method, comprising:
- contacting a cell with a drug candidate;
- and
- measuring an electrical potential inside the cell using a field effect.
An article, comprising:
- a semiconductor nanoscale wire having at least one kink, the semiconductor nanoscale wire consisting essentially of a <112> crystallographic orientation or a <11 20> crystallographic orientation.
An article, comprising:
- a semiconductor nanoscale wire having at least one kink, the semiconductor nanoscale wire consisting essentially of one crystallographic orientation.
A method of growing a semiconductor nanoscale wire, the method comprising:
- (a) growing a semiconductor nanoscale wire from a catalyst particle in a first direction by exposing the catalyst particle to a first gaseous reactant;
- (b) isolating the catalyst particle from the first gaseous reactant;
- and
- (c) growing the semiconductor nanoscale wire from the catalyst particle in a second direction by exposing the catalyst particle to a second gaseous reactant, the second direction being substantially different from the first direction.
An article, comprising:
- a wire having at least one kink, the wire consisting essentially of CdS.
An article, comprising:
- a wire having at least one kink, the wire consisting essentially of Ge.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.