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Semiconductor nanowires: A platform for nanoscience and nanotechnology

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Abstract

Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology critically depend on the development of nanostructures whose properties are controlled during synthesis. We focus on this critical concept using semiconductor nanowires, which provide the capability through design and rational synthesis to realize unprecedented structural and functional complexity in building blocks as a platform material. First, a brief review of the synthesis of complex modulated nanowires in which rational design and synthesis can be used to precisely control composition, structure, and, most recently, structural topology is discussed. Second, the unique functional characteristics emerging from our exquisite control of nanowire materials are illustrated using several selected examples from nanoelectronics and nano-enabled energy. Finally, the remarkable power of nanowire building blocks is further highlighted through their capability to create unprecedented, active electronic interfaces with biological systems. Recent work pushing the limits of both multiplexed extracellular recording at the single-cell level and the first examples of intracellular recording is described, as well as the prospects for truly blurring the distinction between nonliving nanoelectronic and living biological systems.

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Acknowledgments

C.M.L would like to express his sincere appreciation to group members who have participated in the studies described in this presentation, as well as collaborators, including Professors Venkatesh Murthy (Harvard), Charles Marcus (Harvard), Hong-Gyu Park (Korea University), Liqiang Mai (Wuhan University of Technology), Dan Kohane (Children’s Hospital), and Robert Langer (MIT). C.M.L. also acknowledges the generous support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Department of Defense National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship (NSSEFF), McKnight Foundation, MITRE Corporation, and National Institutes of Health Pioneer Award.

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  1. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, USA

    Charles M. Lieber

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  1. Charles M. Lieber
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Correspondence to Charles M. Lieber.

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This article is based on an edited transcript of the Fred Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience presentation given by Charles M. Lieber (Harvard University) on November 28, 2010 at the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting in Boston. The Kavli Foundation supports scientific research, honors scientific achievement, and promotes public understanding of scientists and their work. Its particular focuses are astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience.

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Lieber, C.M. Semiconductor nanowires: A platform for nanoscience and nanotechnology. MRS Bulletin 36, 1052–1063 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2011.269

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