DNA probe functionalization on different morphologies of ZnO/Au nanowire for bio-sensing applications

Abstract This article demonstrates the fabrication of ZnO nanowires using the VLS technique for the development of an optical biosensor to detect thiolated oligonucleotide probe labeled by cy5. In the present work, the development of the two different morphologies of nanowires (i.e., random and straight orientation) was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). After that, surface functionalization of both kinds of orientations of nanowires were carried out using thiolated oligonucleotide, and interaction mechanism between the DNA and ZnO nanowires were studied. Later on, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and photoluminescence (PL) characterization techniques were carried out to study the transformation induced on the optical properties as a result of the modified surface properties of the nanowires, and a brief comparison was carried out. Present work could provide a good basis for the development of new type of optical biosensor for the detection of wide series of biological molecules.