Abstract
This paper presents the growth and structure of ZnO nanorods on a sub-micrometer glass pipette and their application as an intracellular selective ion sensor. Highly oriented, vertical and aligned ZnO nanorods were grown on the tip of a borosilicate glass capillary (0.7 µm in diameter) by the low temperature aqueous chemical growth (ACG) technique. The relatively large surface-to-volume ratio of ZnO nanorods makes them attractive for electrochemical sensing. Transmission electron microscopy studies show that ZnO nanorods are single crystals and grow along the crystal’s c-axis. The ZnO nanorods were functionalized with a polymeric membrane for selective intracellular measurements of Na+. The membrane-coated ZnO nanorods exhibited a Na+-dependent electrochemical potential difference versus an Ag/AgCl reference micro-electrode within a wide concentration range from 0.5 mM to 100 mM. The fabrication of functionalized ZnO nanorods paves the way to sense a wide range of biochemical species at the intracellular level.
Highlights
ZnO nanostructures receive growing attention for electronics, optics and photonics
The morphology of the as-grown high-density and aligned ZnO nanorods was investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM)
Previous studies have shown that ZnO nanorods have the wurtzite structure and grow along the c-axis direction [38]
Summary
ZnO nanostructures receive growing attention for electronics, optics and photonics. Various ZnO nanostructures such as nanowires and nanorods, synthesized by diverse methods, show valuable properties [1,2]. Due to the small dimensions combined with drastically increased contact surface and strong binding with biological and chemical reagents, ZnO nanowires and nanorods have the potential for important applications in biological and biochemical research. The diameter of these nanostructures is usually comparable to the size of the biological and chemical species being sensed, which promise excellent primary transducers for producing electrical signals. When the diameter of ZnO nanostructures reaches a few nanometers, it is expected that their properties could be affected by the structure of the side surface
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