Optical Band Gap and Hall Transport Characteristics of Lanthanide-Ion-Modified DNA Crystals

Lanthanide-ion-modified DNA crystals are fabricated on quartz and silica substrates via surface-assisted growth, and the optical band gap and electrical Hall transport are measured at room temperature for these crystals. The optical band gap of these crystals shows an increasing behavior, and the second band onset showed the inverted V shape upon increasing the lanthanide ion concentration. At a particular concentration, each lanthanide ion into the DNA crystals exhibited low resistivity, low Hall mobility, high free carrier concentration, and a minimum magneto resistance. The experimental results show feasibility in controlling important physical parameters, such as the band gap energy and Hall parameters, by adjusting the concentration of the lanthanide ion. When combined with the existing structural versatility of DNA nanostructures, these functional tunabilities will be crucial for the future development of DNA-based nanoelectronic and biophotonic devices.