Bioelectronic protein nanowire sensors for ammonia detection

Alexander F. Smith; Xiaomeng Liu; Trevor L. Woodard; Tianda Fu; Todd Emrick; Juan M. Jiménez; Derek R. Lovley; Jun Yao

doi:10.1007/s12274-020-2825-6

Nano Research 2020, 13(5): 1479-1484 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2825-6

Research Article | Issue | Published: 11 May 2020

Bioelectronic protein nanowire sensors for ammonia detection

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Alexander F. Smith^¹, Xiaomeng Liu^², Trevor L. Woodard^³, Tianda Fu^², Todd Emrick^⁴, Juan M. Jiménez^{¹^,⁵^,⁶}, Derek R. Lovley^{³^,⁶}(

), Jun Yao^{¹^,²^,⁶}(

)

1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

2Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

3Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

4Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

5Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

6Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

Keywords:

nanowire, biomaterial, bioelectronics, biosensor, protein nanowire, ammonia sensor

Topics:

Gas industry Medical applications Nanosensors Nanowires Proteins

Cite this article:

Smith AF, Liu X, Woodard TL, et al. Bioelectronic protein nanowire sensors for ammonia detection. Nano Research, 2020, 13(5): 1479-1484. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2825-6

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Abstract Electronic supplementary material About this article

Abstract

Electronic sensors based on biomaterials can lead to novel green technologies that are low cost, renewable, and eco-friendly. Here we demonstrate bioelectronic ammonia sensors made from protein nanowires harvested from the microorganism Geobacter sulfurreducens. The nanowire sensor responds to a broad range of ammonia concentrations (10 to 10⁶ ppb), which covers the range relevant for industrial, environmental, and biomedical applications. The sensor also demonstrates high selectivity to ammonia compared to moisture and other common gases found in human breath. These results provide a proof-of-concept demonstration for developing protein nanowire based gas sensors for applications in industry, agriculture, environmental monitoring, and healthcare.

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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 20 February 2020

Revised: 07 April 2020

Accepted: 19 April 2020

Published: 11 May 2020

Issue date: May 2020

Copyright

Acknowledgements

J. Y. and D. R. L. acknowledge support from a seed fund through the Office of Technology Commercialization and Ventures at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. J. Y. acknowledges the support from a National Science Foundation (NSF) Award ECCS-1917630. J. M. J. acknowledges support from a NSF grants CAREER CMMI1842308. A. F. S. acknowledges the support from a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (No. S12100000000937). Part of the device fabrication work was conducted in the clean room of the Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (CHM), an NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) located at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.