A closed-loop catalytic nanoreactor system on a transistor

Abstract

Precision chemistry demands miniaturized catalytic systems for sophisticated reactions with well-defined pathways. An ideal solution is to construct a nanoreactor system functioning as a chemistry laboratory to execute a full chemical process with molecular precision. However, existing nanoscale catalytic systems fail to in situ control reaction kinetics in a closed-loop manner, lacking the precision toward ultimate reaction efficiency. We find an inter-electrochemical gating effect when operating DNA framework-constructed enzyme cascade nanoreactors on a transistor, enabling in situ closed-loop reaction monitoring and modulation electrically. Therefore, a comprehensive system is developed, encapsulating nanoreactors, analyzers, and modulators, where the gate potential modulates enzyme activity and switches cascade reaction “ON” or “OFF.” Such electric field-effect property enhances catalytic efficiency of enzyme by 343.4-fold and enables sensitive sarcosine assay for prostate cancer diagnoses, with a limit of detection five orders of magnitude lower than methodologies in clinical laboratory. By coupling with solid-state electronics, this work provides a perspective to construct intelligent nano-systems for precision chemistry.