DNA quartz crystal microbalance biosensor based on ZnO nanostructure

Abstract

Nanostructured ZnO was synthesized using sol-gel method. The structural properties of the synthesized ZnO were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The XRD patterns of the synthesized powder confirm the Wurtzite-structure of ZnO without any impurity phase. The crystallite size of the powder was estimated using Scherrer formula and observed to be 31 nm. The various concentrations of DNA were immobilized over ZnO using physical interactions. The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) study reveals that the frequency shift depends on the concentration of immobilized DNA molecules. This suggests that synthesized nanostructured ZnO could be used as DNA sensing application.