Interaction of DNA Bases with Single-Layer Ti₃C₂ MXene Nanoribbon: First-Principle Studies

Electronic DNA sequencing using two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene has recently emerged as the next-generation of DNA sequencing technology. Owing to its commercial availability and remarkable physical and conductive properties, graphene has been widely investigated for DNA sequencing by several theoretical and experimental groups. Despite this progress, sequencing using graphene remains a major challenge. This is due to the hydrophobic nature of graphene, which causes DNA bases to stick to its surface via strong pi−pi interactions, reducing translocation speed and increasing error rates. To circumvent this challenge, the scientific community has turned its attention to other 2D materials beyond graphene. One such material is single-layer Ti₃C₂ MXene. The goal of our project is to carry out first-principle computational studies using density functional theory (DFT) to evaluate the feasibility of single-layer Ti₃C₂ MXene nanoribbon for electronic DNA sequencing. Our results and observations will be benchmarked against graphene, as it is the mostly widely studied 2D material for electronic DNA sequencing. The findings from this research will shed new insights that can help accelerate research in the field of electronic DNA sequencing using novel 2D materials.