High performance of ZnO nanowire protein sensors enhanced by the piezotronic effect

Sensitive, selective, and cost-effective detection of biomolecules has huge applications in clinical diagnostics, industrial and environmental monitoring. Semiconducting nanowire (NW) based eld effect transistors (FETs) are one of the candidates for biosensing and various bio-detection. In this work, the performance of a ZnO NW based sensor has been studied for detecting Immunoglobulin G (IgG)-targeted protein. By applying a compressive strain, the piezotronic effect on ZnO NW protein sensors can not only increase the resolution of such sensors by tens of times, but also largely improve the detection limit and sensitivity. A theoretical model is Based on a metal–semiconductor–metal structure, the performance of a ZnO nanowire (NW) based sensor has been studied for detecting Immunoglobulin G (IgG)-targeted protein. By applying a compressive strain, the piezotronic effect on ZnO NWprotein sensors can not only increase the resolution of such sensors by tens of times, but also largely improve the detection limit and sensitivity. A theoretical model is proposed to explain the observed behaviors of the sensor. This study demonstrates a prospective approach to raise the resolution, improve the detection limit and enhance the general performance of a biosensor. proposed to explain the observed behaviors of the sensor. This study demonstrates a prospective approach to raise the resolution, improve the detection limit and enhance the general performance of a biosensor. Sensitive, selective, and cost-effective detection of biomolecules has huge applications in clinical diagnostics, industrial and environmental monitoring. Semiconducting nanowire (NW) based eld effect transistors (FETs) are one of the candidates for biosensing that have large surface areas and can be easily functionalized for various bio-detection. Wurtzite and zinc blend structured semiconductors, such as ZnO, GaN, CdS and CdSe, usually exhibit the piezoelectric effect. Strain induced piezoelectric polarization inside these materials can be used to tune the transport properties of such semiconductor NW-based devices, which is known as the piezotronic effect. Piezotronics is about the devices fabricated using the piezopotential as a “gate voltage” to tune/control charge transport across an interface or junction. Therefore, the performance of ZnO NWs can be tuned by the piezotronic effect for high performance strain sensors, UV sensors, photodetectors, and LEDs. In this work, we study the piezotronic effect on the performance of a ZnO NW-based protein sensor by using a metal– semiconductor–metal (MSM) structured Schottky contacted