Authors: Donggeun Lee, Woo Hyuk Jung, Suho Lee, Eui-Sang Yu, Taikjin Lee, Jae Hun Kim, Hyun Seok Song, Kwan Hyi Lee, Seok Lee, Sang-Kook Han, Myung Chul Choi, Dong June Ahn, Yong-Sang Ryu, Chulki Kim
Published: 2021-06-18
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24122-8
Source: Full article
AbstractDespite technological advances in biomolecule detections, evaluation of molecular interactions via potentiometric devices under ion-enriched solutions has remained a long-standing problem. To avoid severe performance degradation of bioelectronics by ionic screening effects, we cover probe surfaces of field effect transistors with a single film of the supported lipid bilayer, and realize respectable potentiometric signals from receptor–ligand bindings irrespective of ionic strength of bulky solutions by placing an ion-free water layer underneath the supported lipid bilayer. High-energy X-ray reflectometry together with the circuit analysis and molecular dynamics simulation discovered biochemical findings that effective electrical signals dominantly originated from the sub-nanoscale conformational change of lipids in the course of receptor–ligand bindings. Beyond thorough analysis on the underlying mechanism at the molecular level, the proposed supported lipid bilayer-field effect transistor platform ensures the world-record level of sensitivity in molecular detection with excellent reproducibility regardless of molecular charges and environmental ionic conditions.