Inkjet Printed Electrode Arrays for Potential Modulation of DNA Self-Assembled Monolayers on Gold

In this paper, we report a novel and cost-effective fabrication technique to produce electrode arrays that can be used for monitoring and electrical manipulaton of the molecular orientation of DNA self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold. The electrode arrays were prepared from gold coated glass sides or compact discs (CD-Rs) by using standard office inkjet printers without any hardware or software modifications. In this method, electrode arrays of varied shape and size (from submillimeter to centimeter) can be rapidly fabricated and are suitable for standard electrochemical measurements. We were able to use a dual-channel potentiostat to control the electrodes individually and a fluorescence (FL) scanner to image the electrode array simultaneously. With such an integrated modulation setup, the structural switching behavior (from “lying” to “standing” position) and the enhanced hybridization reactivity of thiolate DNA SAMs on gold under potential control have been successfully demonstrated.