Self-assembled monolayers on nano electrodes for biosensing

This report describes the findings of a project aimed at detecting DNA hybridisation using a chip developed by NXP. The chip uses capacitive sensing of monolayer-covered nano electrodes. It has been attemted to form self-assembled monolayers - first of octadecanethiol, later from thiolated DNA probes - onto the gold electrodes. After invubation the DNA monolayer was made to hybridise with its complementary strand and this was monitored by the sensor. During the project several problems were encountered concerning cleaning the system and assembling the setup. Due to strong temperature dependent sensor values and other ambiguities the measurement data did not produce evidence of monolayers forming on the electrodes or hybridisation of DNA.