Optically Triggered Melting of DNA on Individual Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes.

ABSTRACT: Optical excitation of nanostructures is known to induce local heating, a phenomenon that has been intensely exploited for drug release, gene delivery, cancer thermotherapy, and energy harvesting. However, the effect is typically small requiring collective heating of a large concentration or aggregates of particles. Herein, we show that optical excitation of individual semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes triggers strongly localized heating adequate to melt non-covalently attached double-stranded oligonucleotides in solution. In contrast to conventional thermal dehybridization, this optically triggered DNA melting occurs at a solution temperature that is 22?°C lower than the DNA melting temperature. This unexpectedly large localized optical heating effect provides important new insights to design selective optical nanoheaters at the single particle level.

SUBMITTER: Wang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5558453 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature