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Detection of PETN Using Peptide Based Biologically Modified Carbon Nanotubes

Kubas, George D.
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1952-3699
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu149518237278316

Abstract Details

2017, Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering, Youngstown State University, Department of Chemistry.
Explosive detection is an area of great interest in the military, transportation, and safety sectors due to the recent terrorist attacks that have taken place in different parts of the world. Here, detection platforms with high sensitivity and selectivity features are required for the detection of explosives in these senarios. A promising candidate that can fit these specifications is a peptide functionalized carbon nanotube (CNT) due to their unique sensing properties. The present research work has studied the identification of peptides that selectively bind to PETN explosive as well as their incorporation onto CNTs for establishing a nanoscale sensor. This research work has initially concentrated on the use of a phage display technique and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in order to screen for those peptides with affinity toward PETNH [a surrogate of the explosive Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN)]. The use of the PETN surrogate in this work allowed the immobilization of the target during the phage screening process, while retaining the chemical profile similar to PETN. The results have suggested that the library here investigated contained peptides selective to PETNH. Following the panning (screening) procedure, clones were selected and further tested for specificity toward PETNH. The ELISA results from these samples showed that each phage clone has some level of selectivity for binding to PETNH. The peptides from these clones have been sequenced and shown to contain similar amino acid segments among them. These peptides were then used to biologically functionalize single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with the purpose of developing a liquid state PETN nanosensor. The results have shown that the peptide-SWCNT complex was able to detect the presence of PETNH. Also included in this work, is the modeling of the electrical current flow passing through a carbon nanotube field effect transistor (FET) system using density functional tight binding (DFTB) theory via a dftb+ program. The systems investigated included a plain SWCNT, a peptide functionalized SWCNT, and a peptide functionalized SWCNT interacting with PETN. The results have showed that an 8,0 SWCNT FET exhibited an ntype conduction in an oxygen less environment, and that the addition of a peptide or a peptide-PETN interaction did not affect the original n-type conduction profile of the SWCNTs. Furthermore, the results showed that the interaction of PETN with the SWCNTpeptide system displayed an increase in the electrical current of the system suggesting that the explosive sensor resulted in a donation of electrons to the SWCNT conducting channel. The results have shown that the peptide-SWCNT FET operation parameters can be modeled using DFTB theory. This modeling can reduce the experimental work required to identify the functional groups that tailor the selective features of SWCNT based sensors. It is expected that the results presented in this research program can lay out the foundations for developing solid state sensors for explosive materials.
Pedro Cortes, PhD (Advisor)
Diana Fagan, PhD (Committee Member)
C. Virgil Solomon, PhD (Committee Member)
Tom Oder, PhD (Committee Member)
Donald Priour, PhD (Committee Member)
238 p.
Biochemistry; Chemical Engineering; Materials Science; Physics
Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate; Phage Display; Carbon Nanotube Sensors; Density Functional Tight Binding Theory

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kubas, G. D. (2017). Detection of PETN Using Peptide Based Biologically Modified Carbon Nanotubes [Doctoral dissertation, Youngstown State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu149518237278316

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kubas, George. Detection of PETN Using Peptide Based Biologically Modified Carbon Nanotubes . 2017. Youngstown State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu149518237278316.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kubas, George. "Detection of PETN Using Peptide Based Biologically Modified Carbon Nanotubes ." Doctoral dissertation, Youngstown State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu149518237278316

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ysu149518237278316
392
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Youngstown State University and OhioLINK.