Issue 7, 2016

Recent developments in nanowires for bio-applications from molecular to cellular levels

Abstract

This review highlights the most promising applications of nanowires for bioanalytical chemistry and medical diagnostics. The materials discussed here are metal oxide and Si semiconductors, which are integrated with various microfluidic systems. Nanowire structures offer desirable advantages such as a very small diameter size with a high aspect ratio and a high surface-to-volume ratio without grain boundaries; consequently, nanowires are promising tools to study biological systems. This review starts with the integration of nanowire structures into microfluidic systems, followed by the discussion of the advantages of nanowire structures in the separation, manipulation and purification of biomolecules (DNA, RNA and proteins). Next, some representative nanowire devices are introduced for biosensors from molecular to cellular levels based on electrical and optical approaches. Finally, we conclude the review by highlighting some bio-applications for nanowires and presenting the next challenges that must be overcome to improve the capabilities of nanowire structures for biological and medical systems.

Graphical abstract: Recent developments in nanowires for bio-applications from molecular to cellular levels

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
22 Oct 2015
Accepted
17 Feb 2016
First published
17 Feb 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Lab Chip, 2016,16, 1126-1138

Recent developments in nanowires for bio-applications from molecular to cellular levels

S. Rahong, T. Yasui, N. Kaji and Y. Baba, Lab Chip, 2016, 16, 1126 DOI: 10.1039/C5LC01306B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements