Supramolecular architecture and molecular electronics. Four years later

Summary form only given. Ordered monolayers and multilayers of lipids, DNA, fatty acids and proteins, and processes of their interfacing with silicon, gold and other inorganic substrates, form the basis of molecular bioelectronics, a new emerging field at the crossing of molecular biology and submicron electronics with numerous electronic and biotechnological applications resulting from the above supramolecular architectures. Four years later the Langmuir-Blodgett films of biopolymers confirmed their potential in providing unique properties in a wide range of applications from molecular recognition and actuation to information processing, from catalytic activity to electron transfer and DNA chip, because of their unique structural and functional stability to long storage, experimental manipulation and temperatures up to 200/spl deg/C. Similarly their integration with conducting polymers and the introduction of new material such as fullerenes provided new excellent candidates for competitive electronic devices, namely batteries, photovoltaic cells, LED, sensors and transistors, making furthermore uniquely flexible and stable wiring between active elements based on biological organic or inorganic molecules. It is possible indeed to vary in a wide range the conductivity of these wires by just providing different doping degree of the polymers. Incorporation of semiconductor inorganic nanoparticles into organic matrix results in the possibility to observe interesting quantum phenomena, such as single electron conductivity, at room temperature. Some properties of the formed structures are impossible to achieve with traditional electronic technology approaches. A few key examples of molecular electronics are summarized in the presentation.