Applied Surface Science, Vol.483, 1052-+, 2019
Understanding adsorption of nucleobases on CH3NH3PbI3 surfaces toward biological applications of halide perovskite materials
Recent years have witnessed the rapid development of the organic-inorganic halide perovskite materials in various applications which astonish researchers from a broad background including the physics, the chemistry and the materials science. An interesting question remains that whether the halide perovskite materials could be applied to other interdisciplinary research areas, such as those related to the biological applications and the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technologies. Understanding the interactions between the halide perovskite materials and the DNA could be one critical step toward designing future biological and DNA technologies based on the halide perovskite materials. In this manuscript, we computationally investigate the interactions between five nucleobases (A, C, G, T and U) and the halide perovskite surfaces of the prototypical halide perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 to better understand the potentiality of halide perovskite materials in the biological and DNA applications. The interfacial structures, electronic and optical properties of the hybrid nucleobase/perovskite systems are clarified in detail. Our study indicates that the adsorption of the nucleobases onto the halide perovskite surfaces and the impacts of the interactions on the electronic and optical properties of the hybrid systems are highly dependent on the terminations of the halide perovskite surfaces. This work may pave the way for the design of the future halide perovskite-based DNA technologies.