In Search of a Two-Dimensional Material for DNA Sequencing

We analyze the transmission of narrow semiconducting nanoribbons designed from two-dimensional (2D) layered materials such as graphene, silicene, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), and molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂). The Fano resonance driven dips in the transmission, when nucleobases stack with graphene nanoribbon, are known to be useful for DNA sequencing. For graphene and hBN nanoribbons the transmission dips are distinct for each nucleobase, but with a larger band gap for the latter case. For silicene nanoribbon the dips due to different nucleobases are somehow less clear. The transmission of the MoS₂ nanoribbon is unpromising for DNA sequencing as the dip in the transmission is not useful to identify any of the nucleobase. The dip positions in the transmission shift linearly with bias voltage. This shift depends on the nanoribbon used and the orientation of the DNA base. Hence, edge-modified hBN nanoribbons with a reduced band gap could be an alternative to graphene nanoribbon (GNR) for DNA sequencing and recognition of other adsorbents.