Functionalization of semiconductors (SC) has been widely used for various electronic, photonic and biomedical applications. In this paper, we report on selective functionalization achieved by peptides that reveal specific recognition of the SC surfaces. A M13 bacteriophage library was used to screen 1010 different 12-mer peptide on various SC substrates to successfully isolate after 3 cycles one specific peptide for the majority of semiconductors. Our results conclude that GaAs(100) and GaN(0001) retain the same sequence of 12-mer peptide, suggesting that the specificity does not depend on the crystallographic structure but it depends on the chemical composition and the electronegativity of the surface, thus on the orientation of the material. We also note the presence of at least one proline (Pro) amino acid in each peptide, and the presence of the histidine (His) in the specific peptides for the II-VI class SC. Pro imprints a constraint to the peptide to facilitate adhesion to the surface, whereas the basic side chain His is known for its affinity towards some of the elements of class II SC. Finally, fluorescence microscopy has been employed to demonstrate the preferential attachment of the peptide to their specific SC surface in close proximity to a surface of different chemical and structural composition. The use of selected peptides expressed by phage display can be extended to encompass a variety of nanostructured semiconductor based devices.

Emission signal from fluorescent molecules fluorescein-5-maleimide in a porous silicon mirror is enhanced by tuning the pore size and reflectance spectrum of the porous silicon multilayer structure. This is achieved when the reflectance spectrum of the silicon mirror overlaps the fluorescent excitation and emission wavelengths of the fluorescent molecule, and chemical linkers assure the molecular confinement.

Porous silicon (PSi) nanostructures have remarkable optical properties that can be used for biosensing applications. In this paper we report first on the fabrication of heavily doped p-type PSi with pore diameters in the range of 400-4000 nm. The nonspecific and specific binding of the Glucose Oxidase protein (GOX) was then studied onto the PSi mirrorlike substrate. Adsorption of GOX was tuned by the pH of the protein solution (pI = 4.2) depending of the surface charge. PSi matrixes were first stabilized by thermal oxidation and GOX adsorption was performed once directly on the oxidized PSi surface, and also on previously functionalized PSi surfaces. In the latter case the GOX was coupled to the PSi via the S-H group of the 3-(mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTS). The silane-GOX and GOX interactions on the PSi surface were monitored by the Fourier Transformed Infrared spectra that display characteristic bands of the linked molecules. The interference spectrum shows a large blue shift in the Fabry- Perot interference pattern caused by the change in the refractive index of the medium implying a decrease in the effective optical thickness. Quantitative analysis shows that chemically modified PSi samples admit approximately 24% of GOX. Activity assay proved that the protein preserves its catalyst properties under these adsorption conditions.