Functionalized nanopore-embedded electrodes for rapid DNA sequencing

With the aim of improving nanopore-based DNA sequencing, we explored the effects of functionalizing the embedded gold electrodes with purine and pyrimidine molecules. Hydrogen bonds formed between the molecular probe and target bases stabilize the scanned DNA unit against thermal fluctuations and thus greatly reduce noise in the current signal. The results of our first-principles study indicate that this proposed scheme could allow DNA sequencing with a robust and reliable yield, producing current signals that differ by at least 1 order of magnitude for the different bases.