Integrated bioelectronic proton-gated logic elements utilizing nanoscale patterned Nafion

• Published in: Materials horizons Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 224 - 233
• Main Authors: Gluschke, J. G, Seidl, J, Lyttleton, R. W, Nguyen, K, Lagier, M, Meyer, F, Krogstrup, P, Nygård, J, Lehmann, S, Mostert, A. B, Meredith, P, Micolich, A. P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Bioelectricity; Chemical Sciences; Condensed Matter Physics; Den kondenserade materiens fysik; Electron beams; Fluorocarbon Polymers; Frequency response; Fysik; Kemi; Logic; Low voltage; Nanowires; Natural Sciences; Naturvetenskap; Physical Sciences; Proton beams; Protons; Signal processing; Teoretisk kemi; Theoretical Chemistry
• ISSN: 2051-6347; 2051-6355
• DOI: 10.1039/d0mh01070g

A central endeavour in bioelectronics is the development of logic elements to transduce and process ionic to electronic signals. Motivated by this challenge, we report fully monolithic, nanoscale logic elements featuring n- and p-type nanowires as electronic channels that are proton-gated by electron-beam patterned Nafion. We demonstrate inverter circuits with state-of-the-art ion-to-electron transduction performance giving DC gain exceeding 5 and frequency response up to 2 kHz. A key innovation facilitating the logic integration is a new electron-beam process for patterning Nafion with linewidths down to 125 nm. This process delivers feature sizes compatible with low voltage, fast switching elements. This expands the scope for Nafion as a versatile patternable high-proton-conductivity element for bioelectronics and other applications requiring nanoengineered protonic membranes and electrodes. We report fully monolithic, nanoscale logic elements featuring n- and p-type nanowires as electronic channels that are proton-gated by electron-beam patterned Nafion giving DC gain exceeding 5 and frequency response up to 2 kHz.