Posted On: May 11, 2009
Made mainstream by its role in human-genome mapping, genetic-trait analysis, and forensics, deoxyribonucleic acid is also playing a role as a biopolymer for the creation of novel photonic devices.
Andrew Steckl and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati have used DNA to improve the efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for illumination and displays. To make efficient biopolymers, a better understanding is needed of the chemical composition of the DNA material as it is synthesized from its low-density water environment to a dryer, condensed state. “DNA’s natural environment is water, but 99% of the [optoelectronic] devices we work on are solid-state,” says Andrew Steckl. While DNA in solution is being explored for use in optofluidic devices, Steckl sees three critical areas of research necessary to establish the commercial viability of DNA biopolymer-based photonic devices: ensuring an adequate material supply, perfecting the conversion from water-soluble to organic-solvent-soluble DNA, and controlling the “wet-to-dry” transition and understanding its effect on the DNA structure and properties.
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