DNA-templated synthesis of ZnO thin layers and nanowires.

In this paper, we report a novel synthetic approach towards electrically conductive ZnO nanowires close to ambient conditions using lambda-DNA as a template. Initially, the suitability of DNA to assemble ZnO nanocrystals into thin coatings was investigated. The ZnO nanowires formed on stretched and aligned lambda-DNA molecules were prepared via chemical bath deposition (CBD) of zinc acetate in methanol solution in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). After 10 deposition cycles, the nanowires exceed 10 microm in length and the height can be varied from 12 to around 40 nm. The nanocrystalline structure of the ZnO wires was confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The electrical conductivity was found to be of the order of several Omega cm at room temperature in two terminal measurements.