Colloidal quantum dots produce current bursts in lipid bilayers

Sujatha Ramachandran; Robert H. Blick; Daniel W. van der Weide

doi:10.1117/12.661773

27 March 2006 Colloidal quantum dots produce current bursts in lipid bilayers

Sujatha Ramachandran, Robert H. Blick, Daniel W. van der Weide

Proceedings Volume 6096, Colloidal Quantum Dots for Biomedical Applications; 60961F (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.661773
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2006, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

Inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots (QDs), are interesting as as fluorescent labels in biological studies. We have found that introduction of CdSe QDs to the vicinity of black lipid membranes (BLMs) results in current bursts through the membranes with bias voltage. These current bursts resemble those of the peptaibol class of antibiotics such as alamethicin and trichorzins, and are dependent both on voltage level and on concentration of the QDs applied to the membrane. Our data suggest that QDs with dipole moments similar to alamethicin are influenced by an external electric field, which creates a torque promoting insertion into the BLM, and a simple model predicts that at least three QDs can aggregate to form a pore leading to a macroscopic conductance.

Citation Download Citation

Sujatha Ramachandran, Robert H. Blick, and Daniel W. van der Weide "Colloidal quantum dots produce current bursts in lipid bilayers", Proc. SPIE 6096, Colloidal Quantum Dots for Biomedical Applications, 60961F (27 March 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.661773

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