QAMSS Lecture: DNA-Programmable Nanoscale Heterostructures for Optoelectronics and Biosensing

Optimising the design of nanoscale hybrid materials enables the development of novel architectures for a broad range of technological applications, from optoelectronic devices to biosensing platforms. Critical to this effort is the ability to control the interface between the individual components — from their spatial separation to their interfacial chemistry — to enhance synergistic coupling. The goal is not only to design materials, but to create systems where behaviour can be measured, understood and ultimately controlled.

This talk covers strategies for the assembly, (bio)functional and optoelectronic tunability of one-dimensional (1D, carbon nanotubes) and two-dimensional (2D, MoS2 and graphene) nanomaterials and their hybrids with zero-dimensional (0D, quantum dots) nanoparticles. I will show how we can achieve nanoscale spatial control and single-molecule resolution, also employing DNA as a functional and structural linker.

In this regard, we constructed (mixed-dimensional) heterostructures for single-molecule optoelectronic studies and for a variety of applications, including photo-responsive devices, phototriggered dynamic scaffolds and nanoscale biosensing chips. I will discuss, in particular, how we employed DNA as a functional linking and templating moiety to assemble static and stimuli-responsive nanohybrids and devices, with tailored biosensing and optoelectronic responses.

Attend this talk to explore:

• Interfacial engineering for the assembly of nanoscale (mixed-dimensional) heterostructures  
•  DNA nanotechnology strategies in nanomaterials science
•  How nanoscale spatial control and single-molecule resolution can be achieved in hybrid 1D/2D/0D nanomaterial systems
• How these design strategies translate into devices, from photo-responsive and phototriggered dynamic scaffolds to nanoscale biosensing chips

About the speaker

Prof. Matteo Palma, Queen Mary University of London

Matteo Palma is Professor of Physical Chemistry and Nanomaterials in the Department of Chemistry at Queen Mary University of London (UK). Since September 2013, he has led a research group focusing on the controlled assembly of functional nanohybrids of low-dimensional materials, from solution to nanopatterned substrates: carbon nanotubes, 2D nanomaterials and DNA nanostructures are employed to this end. Applications range from optoelectronics to biosensing and single-molecule biological investigations. Trained as a physical chemist, he graduated (MSc) from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" in 2004 and received a PhD in 2007 from the Institute of Supramolecular Science and Engineering (ISIS), University of Strasbourg, France. He then worked as a postdoctoral scientist (2008–2013) in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics at Columbia University (New York, USA) before starting his independent career at Queen Mary.