Cross-linking Bi2S3 ultrathin nanowires: a platform for nanostructure formation and biomolecule detection.

Ludovico Cademartiri, Francesco Scotognella, Paul G O'Brien, Bettina V Lotsch, Jordan Thomson, Srebri Petrov, Nazir P Kherani, Geoffrey A Ozin

Index: Nano Lett. 9(4) , 1482-6, (2009)

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Abstract

This paper describes the use of chemical cross-linking of ultrathin inorganic nanowires as a bottom-up strategy for nanostructure fabrication as well as a chemical detection platform. Nanowire microfibers are produced by spinning a nanowire dispersion into a cross-linker solution at room temperature. Nanomembranes with thicknesses down to 50 nm were obtained by injecting the nanowire dispersion at the cross-linker-solution/air interface. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the nanowire to amine cross-linkers allowed development of a novel sensing platform for small molecules, like the neurotransmitter serotonin, with detection limits in the picomolar regime.