Concepts On Charge Transfer Through Naturally Vibrating DNA Molecule

Concepts on charge transfer through naturally vibrating DNA molecule
S. Abdalla , F. Marzouki
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Accepted 30 July 2012
Available online 17 August 2012
Keywords:
DNA molecule
Electrical conduction
Localized electrons
Potential wells
Relaxation times
Electron density
Delocalization of charges thorough DNA occurs due to the natural and continuous movements of molecule which
stimulates the charge transfer through the molecule. A model is presented showing that the mechanism of elec-
trical conduction occurs mainly by thermally-activated drift motion of holes under control of the localized car-
riers; where electrons are localized in the conduction band. These localized (stationary-trapped) electrons
control the movements of the positive charges and do not play an effective role in the electrical conduction itself.
It is found that the localized charge-carriers in the bands have characteristic relaxation times at 510
^2
s,
1.9410
^4
s, 510
^7
s, and 210
^11
s respectively which are corresponding to four intrinsic thermal acti-
vation energies 0.56 eV, 0.33 eV, 0.24 eV, and 0.05 eV respectively. The ac-conductivity of some published data
are well tted with the presented model and the total charge density in DNA molecule is calculated to be n=
1.8810
^19
cm
^3
at 300 K which is corresponding to a linear electron density n=8.6610
^3
cm
^1
at
300 K. The model shedlight on the role of transfer and/or localization of charges throughDNAwhich has multiple
applications inmedical, nano-technical, bio-sensing and different domains. So, repair DNAbyadjusting the charge
transport through the molecule is future challenges to new medical applications.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Every process of consuming bio-energy cannot entirely change to
another form without some loss of heat which warms the body itself.
Rattemeyer et al. (1981) and Ruth and Popp (1975) have dened the
phenomenon of bio-photons (BPs) (or ultra weak photon emission of
biological cells/systems). This says that all living systems can emit BPs
in ubiquitous nature; for example, our DNA molecules can absorb light
energy: part of this energy is stored in the molecules and the rest is emit-
ted from them. The stored energy inside the molecules forces them
to oscillate in a simple manner and one can call the DNA as simple
harmonic oscillator. In principal, this oscillator should lose its energy
with time, but by the continuous absorption of light energy, from body
cells, cancompensate any loss inthe oscillator-energy andmake anequi-
librium state between absorbed and emitted energy which makes the
molecule in permanent vibration. Thus, the DNA molecule acts as a
permanent-resonator with a ubiquitous nature. This may conrm the
fact that DNA is an organic-superconductor (Murakami, 1992). So, DNA
is a wonderful superconductor that can perform its jobs at moderate
temperatures (for example 37 C for human cells). Also, super conduc-
tors have the ability to store light energy (Kasumov et al., 2001). We
will use the fact that DNA is in permanent oscillation to explain the elec-
trical conduction through the life-molecule but the natural oscillations
themselves (of DNA) are out of scope of the present work. In another
work (Abdalla, 2011a,b), we have shown that localization of electrons
in lowest unoccupied molecular orbits (LUMO) opposes the electrical
conduction through the molecule. Here, on the contrary, we will show
that the DNA permanent-oscillations enhance the electrical conduction
by delocalization of some localized-electrons in the LUMO (conduction
band) which makes the trunk of the present work. In fact, DNA exhibits
unusual electrostatic properties that are thought to play a role not only
in the fundamental biological process packaging DNA into compact
structures but also in several medical applications (Chakraborty,
2007; Dekker and Ratner, 2001; Shoshanil et al., 2012). This is due to
the quantum-mechanical motions of charges through the different
bases of DNA, there is always a small but nite probability that the
charges will change place, alter the charge transfer rate and give rise
to mutations (Guallar et al., 1999; Jong-Chin et al., 2008). More
interesting, this implies also that this transfer of charges over a distance
of about one 10
8
cmin a static molecule may be of the driving forces in
the evolution of living organisms. Not only in DNAmolecule, but also the
conformational structures of macromolecules affect their resonant
ac-electric polarization (Guallar et al., 1999). Moreover, using electrical
methods in genetic identication could lead to new therapeutic era
(Jong-Chin et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2010). Nowadays, with advanced
high-technology, static DNA strands of any predetermined sequence
can be chemically prepared in vitro and the availability of such carful
Gene 509 (2012) 2437
Abbreviations: A, C, G and T, stand for DNA bases: adenine, cytosine, guanine and
thymine, respectively; AEA, adiabatic electron afnity; Alpha, correlation factor;
BPs, phenomenon of bio-photons; CB, conduction band; DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid;
exp (E/kT), Boltzmann factor; FET, eld effect transistor; h/2e, quantum wire limit
of; HOMO, highest occupied molecular orbits; LUMO, lowest unoccupied molecular or-
bits; SWNT, single-walled carbon nano-tube; TSDC, thermally stimulated depolariza-
tion current; VB, valance band; E, localization energy; E
i
, potential barrier.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +966 582343822, +966 562010819 (Mobile).
E-mail address: smabdullah@kau.edu.sa (S. Abdalla).
0378-1119/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2012.07.082
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Gene
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ gene
denedmolecular material has ledscientists toseekfor novel applications
of DNA outside the biological era: for example new medical therapeutic
methods (Hsiao et al., 2011), DNA computers (Lipton, 1995), bio-nano-
molecular devices (Yeo et al., 2011), different dielectrophoresis force ap-
plications on DNA (Cheng et al., 2010; Giraud et al., 2011; Henning et al.,
2010; Siva et al., 2010) and newbrain computer interface attempts using
DNA molecules (Mahon et al., 2011). In fact, the transfer of charges
through DNA is an urgent problem because some added, subtracted or
localized, charges, to (or from) DNA molecule could lead to mutation
and potential cancer (Shirahige and Katou 2006; Heckman et al., 2011).
Thus, scientists, from three decades ago, are still working about the true
nature of DNA electrical characteristics; but the question of whether
DNA is intrinsically conducting is, till now, an unresolved problem. The
published experimental data are quite different and even contradictory:
is DNA an intrinsically conducting molecule? No net answer could be
found and it is, till now, an unresolved problem. The published experi-
mental data are quite different and even contradictory: While Cai et al.
(2000) and Tran et al. (2000); have shown that the molecule is good
conductor (an ohmic material); Ciavatta et al. (2006) have reported that
DNA is a highly insulating material, but, Porath et al. (2000), Slinker et
al. (2011), Heckman et al. (2011) have, on the contrary, conrmed that
DNA is a semiconductor; and even a super conductor as reported by
Kasumov et al. (2001). All these published papers have considered static
DNA double helix and no publication account for the electrical conductiv-
ity through a moving (oscillating) DNA. Recently, ultrafast super cameras
have shown that DNA molecule is in permanent motion (Phillips et al.,
2011) and vibrates with certain oscillations. So, it is logical to search for
the probable mechanism of electrical conduction through permanently
vibrating DNA molecule and to encounter the presumed sources of ex-
perimental uncertainties (Higareda-Mendoza and Pardo-Galvn, 2010;
Ichimura et al., 2004; Phillips et al., 2011; Van Zandt, 1981; White et al.,
2003; Zhang et al., 2011). One can categorize these uncertainties into
four main categories: rst, the permanent vibrations of DNA molecule
affect the charge transfer through the molecule; then second the actual
ne-structure and the initial conditions of DNA preparation (the mole-
cule character): for example ropes versus single molecule, length of the
DNA and the presence of external impurities initially present at DNA
preparation: these impurities could lead to the creation of localized en-
ergy states in the molecule (Baba et al., 2006). Third, differences be-
tween the molecules and their environments for example inuence of
water and counter ions (Luan and Aksimentiev, 2010); and nally, the
nature of the metallic contacts between the electrode and the DNA mol-
ecule. Some success has been achieved by Guo et al. (2008) concerning
the dependence of conductivity on the nature of the contact to the elec-
trodes as well as whether DNA is nicked or repaired. However, the same
authors admit that, while some experimental parameters are rather
well controlled, other important ones are not; for example how many
DNA molecules are actually bridging the electrodes. However, advance-
ments in nanotechnology can resolve most of these problems and in
particular make it possible to have good ohmic metallic contacts.
Storm et al. (2001) have performed extensive measurements, varying
the sequence of DNA (using -DNA, as well as synthetic ply G-poly C
DNA). In addition, they also varied the type of electrode (they have
used Au and Pt) and the insulating substrate (they have used SiO
2
and
mica). They also have measured the zero conductances. In their exper-
iment, Zhang et al. (2001) have stretched the DNA by a buffer ow
across the gold electrodes and displayed insulating behavior at a bias
potential up to 20 V. Concerning the semiconducting behavior of DNA,
Porath et al. (2000) have used a single short molecule (only 30 base
pairs) with homogeneous sequences poly Gpoly C and have found a
rather large HOMOLUMO gap (4 eV) with the metal work functions
sitting inside the gap. These authors have given evidence for the exis-
tence of coherent electronic states extended across the DNA molecule
(Porath et al., 2000). The measured strong temperature dependence of
the electrical conductivity (and the gap itself) is not easily explained
within the coherent energy-band picture (Slinker et al., 2011).
Moreover, Rakitin et al. (2000) have used long -DNA molecule with
Au-contacts. The current passing through their DNA molecule is in the
range of some pico-amperes. This poor value may be attributed to the
presence of high contact resistances. On the other hand, short
homogeneous oligomers (used by Porath et al., 2000) whose sticky
ends attached the -DNA to the electrodes by sulfurgold bonds may
have poor electrical conduction. The bundles are laid across holes in an
Au-coated foil, which served as one electrode. The conductance is mea-
sured with a metal-coated mechanical tip that touched the bundle and
served as a second electrode. The experiments that conrm the Ohmic
nature of DNA molecule have been carried out by Tran et al. (2000),
Rakitinet al. (2000) and Yoo et al. (2001) showa small activationenergy
inferior than 0.2 eV at room temperature even though very different
setups are used. Tran et al. (2000) have presented a unique set of exper-
imental ac-conductivity data of -DNA with and without electrode
contacts and with and without humidity (dry and wet -DNA) in buffer
solution andover wide range of temperature. In their remarkable exper-
imental data, Tran et al. (2000) have found two distinctive regimes
of electrical conductivity depending on temperature: above 250 K the
conductivity is activated by strong activation energy (0.33 eV); while
below 200 K, the conductivity depends weakly on the temperature.
They (Tran et al., 2000) have speculated that the weak temperature
dependence may not be electronic in nature, but instead may be caused
by ionic conduction, or else by reorientation of water dipoles. Similarly,
it is pointed out that the increase in the ac conductivity with humidity
might be explained by an increase of single molecule dipole relaxation
losses plus collective reorientation of water clusters at strong humidity
(Briman et al., 2004). Conversely, the dc-conductivity at zero bias volt-
age measured by Yoo et al. (2001) shows two similar temperature
regimes. Concerning the increase of the ac conductance with humidity,
similar experiments on frozen DNA samples with immobilized water
molecules and counter ions show a similar dependence of the conduc-
tivity on the humidity (Briman et al., 2004). However, under such
physical conditions reorientationof water dipoles seems unlikely. Sever-
al conduction mechanisms are presented to explain the temperature
dependence of conductivity through DNA molecule: variablerange
hopping mechanism Yoo et al., 2001, small-polaron model (Triberis et
al., 2005), thermally activated tunneling (Berlin et al., 2002) and ther-
mally activated hopping (Tran et al., 2000) but all these mechanisms
have considered the molecule as a rigid, homogeneous and perfectly
pure body. Although this gives some idea about the conduction mecha-
nism, neither the nature of small activation gaps nor the origin of free
charge carriers is yet clear for a dynamic bio-molecule as DNA. Without
considering the continuous motionof DNAandsomething like dopingor
nding states not associated with the base pair stake, it is unlikely that
the small activation gap can be accounted for. Kasumov et al. (2001)
have showed resistance data consistent with induced superconductivity
in DNA. In their experiment, 16-m long -DNA has showed super con-
ductivity properties at very low temperature requiring true extended
states. This experiment differs fromall others in that a buffer with a pre-
dominantly divalent magnesium counter ion is used. At temperatures
below 1 K the rhenium electrodes become superconducting and the
proximity effect is observed in some samples in which a few DNA mol-
ecules are observed to span the electrodes. The existence of molecules
across the electrode gap is conrmed with non-doping atomic force
microscopy, and the resistance of the best samples is at the quantum
wire limit of h/2e (Anderson, 1958; Thouless, 1997). This resistance
value is of fundamental importance. However, since the metalDNA
contact resistance is unknown, it is hard to determine the intrinsic resis-
tance of a thin wire or molecule. One indication that DNA's resistance is
above the maximummetallic value, the resistance quantum, stems from
the experimental fact that DNA displays excess resistance, i.e., the resis-
tance increases exponentially with the length of the wire instead of
linearly, as is common for Ohmic materials. The question remains, how-
ever, what is the origin of the near-super coiled samples? Does it stem
from the possible stabilization of oppy single DNA molecules by the
25 S. Abdalla, F. Marzouki / Gene 509 (2012) 2437
bundles, or do condensed water and counter ions trapped between the
DNA molecules lead to a different pathway for charge transport than
thoughpstackedbase pairs? If so, this couldexplainthe lack of anisotropy
of conductance seen in lms of oriented DNA molecules (Triberis et al.,
2005). There seems to be weak sequence dependence, however, arguing
in favor of a one dimensional pathway through stacked base pairs. Poly
G n poly C and poly Apoly T samples showed slightly different activa-
tions gaps (Yoo et al., 2001). This, however, could also be due to the fact
that poly Gpoly C and poly Apoly T have different helical rises, 2.88
and 3.22 , respectively, which may have caused condensed water and
counter ions to form different patterns. It is also interesting to note the
somewhat larger conductivity for wet compared to dry DNA, but both
dry and wet have the same activation gap (0.16 eV), as inferred from
contactless measurements in microwave cavity (Tran et al., 2000). The
contact is characterized by the work function of the electrode, as well as
the second contact or do charge carriers rst have to tunnel through the
backbone? Unfortunately, only the work functions of metal electrodes
are more or less known. In the important case of gold, it is not even
clear if the Au work function is blowor above the DNAlowest unoccupied
molecular orbit (LUMO). The above mentionedmeasurements are consis-
tent with charge transport in a semiconductor where LUMO energy
serves as the lowest conduction band energy and the highest occupied
molecular orbital energy of the DNA (HOMO) serves as the highest va-
lence band energy.
Moreover, previous measurements show that the ac-conductivity is
well parameterized as a power law in angular frequency (Almond
and Bowen, 2004; Papathanassious, 2006). Such dependence can be a
general hallmark of the disordered systems (Abdalla et al., 1987, 1989;
Efros and Shklovskii, 1975; Fazio et al., 2011; Pistoulet et al., 1984) and
led to the reasonable interpretation that intrinsic disorders can create
a denite number of electronic localized states onthe base pair sequences
in which charge conduction could occur. However, such a pattern would
lead to thermally activated conduction between localized states (by hop-
ping) inconsistent with the very lowdc-conductivity (Zhang et al., 2002).
The above mentioned measurements are consistent with charge trans-
port in a semiconductor where the lowest unoccupied molecular orbit
(LUMO) energy serves as the lowest conduction band energy and the
highest occupied molecular orbital energy of the DNA (HOMO) serves
as the highest valence band energy. Here, a number of outstanding issues
arise: are there localized states along the helix that form continuous
conducting path? What is the linear density of charge carriers, in cm
1
,
that affects this electrical conduction? Can some sort of conduction be-
tween localized states over distances of a few bases still occur? Are
there sensitive length dependencies in the DNA strand? In Abdalla
(2011a), an answer to the rst question has been given and has shown
that there are some localized states within the four bases that form
conducting channels throughout the different bases. This explores the
effect of these localized states on the free charges density and will give
answers to some of the above mentioned questions. The localized charges
(electrons in the conduction band CB) are responsible for directing free
positive charges (holes or evenfree radicals) to carry the current andcon-
duct the electric energy. This localization of charges and the charge trans-
fer have an ultimate goal to repair the damaged bonds and to inhibit the
electrical conduction through the double helix. Let us see the biologically
intelligent job of electron localization as it forms some reservoirs of elec-
trons in potential wells inside the lowest unoccupied molecular orbit
which can be used in repair processes. Several questions remain, howev-
er, without a clear response:
1 What is the nature of the DNA motion at 1 K (Kasumov et al., 2001)?
2 Howdoes the continuous vibrationof DNAaffect the metal contact ef-
ciency? Do these continuous vibrations damage the contacts or not?
3 How does the continuous vibration of DNA affect the localization of
electrons in potential wells?
4 Does the model of conduction band apply at all to the highly disor-
dered one dimensional DNA molecules?
5 What are the specic molecular effects of the DNA vibrations?
6 What are the molecular manifestations of the above mentioned
terms dislocations and impurities in a double helix?
7 What are the sources of excess electrons in DNA molecules?
We will try to give an answer to some of these questions but the
answers of all questions are out of the scope of the present study;
concerning the source of excess electrons in DNA: Fazio et al. (2011)
have recently shownthat DNAdouble-duplex helix containing a reduced
avin donor at the junction of two duplex with either the same or differ-
ent electron acceptors in the duplex substrates can bring two electron
acceptors in the duplex substrates into direct competition for injected
electrons which explains how the kind of acceptor inuences the trans-
fer data (Fazio et al., 2011). Another point of view about the sources of
excess electrons is that the adiabatic electron afnity would increase
upon salvation and that dynamical simulations after vertical attachment
indicate that the excess electron localizes around the nucleobases within
a 15 femto-second time scale (Smyth and Kohanoff, 2011). Moreover,
another reason for excess electron transfer, shown by Tainaka et al.
(2010) is conjugated with amino-pyrene and di-phenyl-acetylene as a
photosensitizing donor and an acceptor of excess electron, respectively.
For the specic molecular effects of the vibrations: Chou (1984) and
Merzell and Johnson (2011) have shown that the low-frequency vibra-
tions posses some exceptional functions in transmitting biological infor-
mation at the molecular level. In addition, Chen and Kiangb (1985) have
reported that there is resonance at the molecular level which could play
a central role in the energy transmission required during the cooperative
interaction between subunits in a protein oligomer. So, one will consider
these effects and in particular the electrons localization in the conduction
band (LUMO) of DNAon its electric and dielectric properties. To do so, we
will present a model taking into account the presence of inhomogeneous
distribution of electrons in the LUMO of DNA which allows the localiza-
tion of electrons in this lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (conduction
band). These localized electrons inhibit the drift motion of the mobile
(free) holes and resists their motion as it will be seen later.
2. Model and simulations
2.1. Electron density in the conduction band
In this section, it will be demonstrating that DNAmolecules are highly
affected by the localization effect and that they have typical semiconduct-
ing properties which vary from semi-metal up to semi-insulating mate-
rials. This variation depends on several factors, for example the: (i) the
continuous motion of the DNA molecule (Higareda-Mendoza and
Pardo-Galvn, 2010; Phillips et al., 2011; Van Zandt, 1981; Zhang et al.,
2011) and even its collapse under ac-electric eld (Zhou et al., 2011),
(ii) energy difference between a base and the charges around it, (iii) en-
ergy difference between any base and the successive one, and (iv) types
of impurities anddislocations that exist inthe pathof the electrons during
their drift motion. In fact, these factors lead to the creation of localized
states in the CB as it will be seen later. Now, one may ask: what is the or-
igin of these disorder parameters (vibrations, impurities, dislocations and
disorder parameters) inside the DNA molecule? It is believed that during
the initial formation of DNA molecule, some undesired, and often un-
controlled, structure imperfections, dislocations, impurities, and other
disorder parameters are, inevitably, present in (or between) the different
bases. Moreover, as the DNA has a highly important bio-functions, its
chemical bonds shouldn't be damaged, but if a bond is forced to be dam-
aged by free radicals for example; the continuous motion will be neces-
sary to localize the electrons in some potential wells in order to repair
the potential damage (electron stores in CB to be used later). These local-
ized electrons will resist the motion of free holes and give more time to
repair the damaged bond. In addition, these disordered centers, disloca-
tions and impurities lead to the formation of donoracceptor pair and
thus, stimulate the creation of localized states in the extended bands. In
the same regard, a non periodic sequence will lead to disorder along the
one-dimensional molecule. The charge transfer between different bases
is characterized by two essential factors: The activation energy between
sites and the time of transition from one site to another (charge transfer
rate). This time will be considered to affect and correlate with the motion
of DNA molecule itself. Also, analysis of hybrid quantum mechanics and
molecular dynamics (Cheng et al., 2010; Giraud et al., 2011; Henning et
al., 2010; Siva et al., 2010; Porath et al., 2000; Slinker et al., 2011;
Heckman et al., 2011) will be essentially attributed to two factors: molec-
ular vibrations of DNA and correlated motion of counter ions and water
molecules surrounding the molecule. In fact, the conformational dynam-
ics of DNA, that is, the relative motion of adjacent nucleobases, plays an
important role in the electrical conduction through DNA double helix
and it substantially affects the distribution of counterion charges around
the molecule (Voityuk, 2008). These counter ions are solvated and their
motion is correlated by their hydration shell, which partially screens
their long-rang Columbic effect. For example, the energy difference be-
tween G+ and A+ in modied DNA is found to be about 0.3 eV
(Voityuk et al., 2004).
Moreover, as it has been demonstrated by Richardson et al. (2004),
each of the DNA bases has its characteristic energy level and has its
own electron density; thus the above mentioned disorder factors lead
to inhomogeneous distribution of electrons all over the bases through
the molecule. Because the Fermi level has a constant value at a certain
temperature and electron density varies from a point to another along
the helix, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals LUMO (CB) uctu-
ate around a most probable value (Abdalla et al., 1987; Pistoulet et al.,
1984) and create localized states inside the LUMO throughout the
bases. Moreover the continuous vibrations of DNA stimulates loosely
bounded electrons to transfer from one site to another where it could
be localized in potential well inside the CB (or trapped in disorder trap-
ping center in the upper half of the energy gap). The spatial and ener-
getic variations of the electron density makes the conduction band
energy, E
C
uctuate around a most probable value E
C0
(Abdalla et al.,
1987; Pistoulet et al., 1984). This latter energy corresponds to an ideal
semiconducting compoundsimilar to the DNAbut without any disorder
parameters and without localized states between the bases. It has been,
also, shown (Abdalla et al., 1987; Pistoulet et al., 1984) that the uctu-
ations of E
C
around a most probable value, in a Gaussian distribution,
lead to localization of electrons inside potential wells which affects
drastically the electrical conduction. Here, it is considered that the elec-
trons with energy less thanE
C0
(E
C
bE
C0
) are localized in potential wells,
while electrons with energy greater than E
C0
(E
C
>E
C0
) are considered
to be free. Here, we consider that the potential wells have localization
energy E which is related to the disorder energy of the material itself.
Now, the previous model (Abdalla et al., 1987; Pistoulet et al., 1984)
will be applied to explain the mechanism by which free holes transfer
from a base to another through DNA molecule. One should, rst, show
the role played by the adiabatic electron afnity AEA: the energy differ-
ence between the different bases through the DNA molecule is correlated
withthe AEAinthe bases. The localizedelectrons affect the drift motionof
the hole throughDNAandthus the AEAof these localizedelectrons affects
the hole motion. Richardsonet al. (2004) have experimentally shownthat
the AEAs in eV for each of the DNA bases are as follows: 0.06, (A); 0.09,
(G); 0.33, (C); and 0.44, (T) and have, also, found that the vertical
detachment energies of dT and dC are substantial, 0.72 and 0.94 eV,
and these anions should be observable; where A, C, G and T stand for
DNA bases: adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine, respectively.
Moreover, Yanson et al. (1979) have experimentally found that the
energy difference between A and T is about 0.56 eV. In the present
work, the considered energies are the four activation energy values:
0.05 eV, 0.24 eV, 0.33 eV and 0.56 eV as they are commonly repetitive
in the experimental published-data:
(1) By dielectric measurements, Yakuphanoglua et al. (2003) have
reported that DNA is a typical semiconductor which has moderate
activation energy about 0.56 eV.
(2) By electrical conductivity experimental data, Tran et al. (2000)
have shown that the electrical conductivity of DNA molecule is
thermally activated by 0.33 eV. Moreover, Povailas and Kiveris
(2008) have, experimentally, reported that DNA molecule is an in-
sulator and its electrical conductivity is thermally activated by
0.33 eV. Gutierrez et al. (2010) have obtained numerical results
demonstrating that the charge transfer between G and C bases is
thermally activated by 0.33 eV.
(3) Similarly, Anagnostopoulou-Konsta et al. (1998) have reported, for
DNA molecule, the presence of two well dened thermally stimu-
lated depolarization current (TSDC) peaks, one of them lies at
about 186.5 K and the other at about 120 K. The present authors
have calculated the energy levels corresponding to these two
peaks, and found that they lay at 0.33 eVand 0.238 eV, respective-
ly. Moreover, by the same TSDC technique Pissas et al. (1992) have
found that, at about 179 K, DNA molecule has a well dened peak
at 178 K and the present work calculations lead to an energy at
about 0.36 eV. In addition, by thermoelectric considerations on
DNA molecule, Mecia (2005) has deduced the presence of activa-
tion energy of about 0.33 eV in the DNA molecule.
Depending on these experimental data and on the above mentioned
electron afnity data, four intrinsic thermal activation-energies, in DNA
molecules at 0.05 eV, 0.24 eV, 0.33 eV and 0.56 eV will be considered in
the present work, respectively; i.e. at a certain temperature, the electron
transfer occurs bydrift motionfroma base to another whichis thermally
activated withinthe DNAmolecule. This could occur by one of these four
activation energies. Moreover, it is possible that certain activation ener-
gies hide the effect of the others, depending on the temperature range:
for example the deep energy at 0.56 eV, could be well manifested at
high temperatures and hide the effect of the shallow energy at 0.05 eV.
While, on the contrary, the strong effect of the shallow level at 0.05 eV
masks the effect of the deep level at lower temperatures.
The application of dc electric eld enhances all electrons, in the CB,
to move towards the positive side. Free electrons respond directly to
the eld and transfer, by drift motion, to the nearest base as these free
electrons have energy greater than the threshold energy E
C0
and they
are not affected by the disorder. On the other hand, the localized elec-
trons in the potential wells should overcome a barrier, E
i
to reach
the nearest base; where i denotes any base under consideration
and it may take one value between 1 and 4. The values of E
i
are con-
sidered as: E
1
=0.05 eV, E
2
=0.24 eV, E
3
=0.33 eV, and E
4
=
0.56 eV. The localized electrons are considered, spatially, distributed
between the bases. Moreover, Voityuk (2008) and Voityuk et al.
(2004) have found that holes can transfer from the positive guanine
base G+ to the positive adonine base A+ with an activation energy
about 0.4 eV. Voityuk et al. (2004) have reported that the Boltzmann
factor exp (E/kT) is very sensitive to variations of E. These authors
have reported energies as: E
1
=0.05 eV, E
2
=0.24 eV, E
3
=
0.33 eV, and E
4
=0.56 eV. Moreover, their gure number 1 (Voityuk
et al., 2004) describes the hole transfer between the guanine bases
and adenine ones as a function of time and they have found that the
characteristic time of such relevant uctuations is 0.30.4 ns. One has
expanded their results using Fourier series then, using Gaussian distri-
bution; one has estimated the most probable values for the different
transition possibilities that can occur between the G+and A+. Our cal-
culations show that the most probable energy needed for the hole to
jump from G+ to A+ is found to be 0.36 eV0.39 eV which is in
good accordance with the data in the present work.
Let us, rst, x our attention on any base denoted i, within the DNA
molecule. The density of the total electrons inside this base, n(E
i
)
varies from one base to another with a correlation factor
. This factor
is the conductivity-inhibitor factor andit represents the effect of DNAvi-
brations on the electrical conduction. It correlates localized charges in
the considered base with the adjacent bases and with the adjacent
charges depending on several factors; for example the distance between
the localized electron and the nearest positive charge within its path.
Grib et al. (2010) have shown that the distance-conductivity depen-
dence is a consequence of a transition from under barrier tunneling
mechanism to over-barrier propagation when the nearest neighbor
hopping chosen is large enough. Their experimental evidences show
that the electrical conductivity through DNA depends linearly on the
number of attached bases and depends linearly on the molecule length
(Grib et al., 2010). We will use this fact and apply it to a vibrating
bases: the distance between bases will vary and shrink when DNA vi-
brates which resist the hole transfer through DNA double helix. So,
one will use their work (Grib et al., 2010) in the present work and will
consider that
lies in the range: 0b
b1: the minimum correlation

value corresponds to minimumelectrical conduction and it corresponds
to maximumlocalization of electrons (maximumvibration of DNA) and
the correlation tends to vanish i.e.
~0 at maximum localization of
electrons in the conduction band CB (LUMO). On the other hand, the
free electrons have a strong correlation factor; this gives
~1=100%
which makes no action with the free holes. In addition, the free holes
are almost completely correlated with the nearest negative charges be-
cause: (i) they can transfer immediately to the nearest charge under ex-
ternal electric eld by drift motion and (ii) because they have very weak
relaxation time as we will see in Section 2.5 i.e. they respond nearly im-
mediately to the applied electric eld.
In general, localization plays a similar role as the chelate effect
(Camara-Campos et al., 2009) in organic substances in which the en-
hanced afnity of chelating legends for a positive ion compared to the
afnity of a collection of similar non-chelating legends for the same
positive ion.
The following analyses could be generally apply to macromolecules
whether the main charge carriers are holes or electrons; in a particular
case of DNA double helix the majority carriers are holes. Localization of
electrons in CB directly affects the drift motion of holes and in similar
way localization of holes in VB affects the motion of free electrons. So,
the sum of the densities of free electrons, n
F
and localized ones, n
L
(E
i
) could be written as:
i
n E
i
n
F

i
n
L
E
i
: 1
As it is above mentioned, the free electrons are not affected with
the disorder and their density in the CB, n
F
is given by:
n
F
N
C
exp E
F
E
C0
=kT ;
where, E
F
is the Fermi energy, T is the temperature in Kelvin, N
C
is the
density-of-states in the CB, and k is Boltzmann constant.
One will consider that the free electron density is thermally activated
by energy E
i
. n
F
is related to the total electron density n(E
i
) in the CB
as:
n
F

i4
i1
n E
i

i
exp E
i
=kT : 2
So, the ratio between the free electron density and the total elec-
tron density in the CB could be written as:
i4
i1
n
F
n E
i

i 4
i 1
i
exp E
i
=kT : 3
Packing of available holes, in potential hills, (electrons, in potential
wells), from the highest (lowest) energy downwards (upward) to E
VO
(E
CO
) (by heating for example), lets the valance band VB (conduction
band CB) to have full of free holes (electrons); the lowest (highest)
level occupied by holes (electrons), in the VB (CB), is E
V0
(E
CO
). This
situation leads to thermally activated conduction, characteristic of semi-
conductors. Heating causes increased lattice vibrations in bases as well;
however, it simultaneously leads to higher population of charge carriers
in the extended bands and hence increases in conductivity. In the same
regard, packing of available holes from the highest energy downwards
in a band can also end down with a completely lled band (at E
V0
);
when T tends to innite values (or when frequency of the applied ac-
electric eld tends to innite values). This leads to constant value of
hole density and a corresponding limit value of conductivity,
Limit
, at
very high T (or very high frequencies). One will see, in Section 2.2, that
this limit value corresponds to the total electron density in the CB i.e.
the sum of both free and localized electrons density n
limit
=n
F
+
i
n
L
. To
convert these physical aspects into quantitative equations; one can
write the density of total electrons in the CB as:
i
n E
i
N
C
exp E
i
E
F
=kT : 4
The total density of electrons in the CB can be given by summing
all over the possible values of E
i
and
I
as:
i
n n E
i
N
C
exp E
i
E
F
=kT : 5
Furthermore, one will consider that in order to carry the electric cur-
rent, the localized electrons must overcome the depth of the potential
wells, which lay between the bases, E
i
, then n
L
will be given as:
i
n
L
N
C
exp E
F
=kT exp E
i
=kT f g1 : 6
In addition, it is considered that, in the DNA molecule, at least one
shallow donor trapping level with density, N
sh
and another deep donor
trapping one with density N
d
are present. Their activation energies are
E
sh
and E
d
respectively and they are resulting from impurities, disloca-
tions, imperfections, and disorder parameters. The shallow trapping
level is considered so near to the CB that it is almost completely ionized.
Consequently, inside the considered base, characterized by an energy
E
i
; the charge neutrality could be described as:
i
n E
i
N
a
E
i
1
i
p E
i
N
d
E
i
N
sh
7
where p (E
i
) is the hole density in the valence band, N
+
d
(E
i
) and N
a
(E
i
) are the densities of ionized donor level and ionized acceptor level,
respectively. In the present work: the electron density in the CB is consid-
ered by far greater than the holes density in the valence band i.e. np
andthe electrondensity n(E
i
) is by far greater thanthe ionizedacceptors
which have density comparable to the holes density: N
a
p. Thus, the
neutrality equation could be approximated as:
i
n E
i
N
d
E
i
N
sh
: 8
Here, N
sh
is temperature independent and g
dd
is the degeneracy
of the level; it is considered to be 2
42
. The total electron density,
n(E
i
), in the CB can be given as a function of a nearly temperature-
independent density N
sh
as follows:
4
i 1
i
n E
i
N
sh

i 4
i 1
N
d
1 g
dd
exp E
F
E
d
E
i
=kT
: 9
Noting that; at a certain temperature, the Fermi level should be
kept constant between the two sides in the neutrality equation and
the equality of summations, in Eq. (9) all-over the four bases means
that E
F
has a constant value within the different bases.
It is worth mentioning that, the present model makes possible the
addition of one (or several) deep or shallowtrapping level to the neu-
trality equation (Eq. (9)) whether they are donors or acceptors, under
the condition that there is at least only one exhausted shallow trap-
ping level. By this presumed addition, the thermal behavior of n is
expected to be kept the same, i.e. at high temperatures, the ionization
of the deep level(s) dominates the electrical conduction mechanism
and at lower temperatures, the exhaustion of the shallow trapping
level controls the conduction as one will see in the next section.
2.2. Derivation of complex conductivity due to band carriers through moving
DNA molecule: dc conductivity
The present work sheds light on the role played by the localized elec-
trons in the CB which can lead to interesting range of electrical conduc-
tivity starting from insulators up to conductors. It has been previously
shown that localized electrons play no role in the electrical conduction
and they are stationary in the localized states; but they drastically affect
the free holes and hence decrease the electrical conduction. The pro-
posed model shows that charges can carry the electric current by over-
coming potential barrier E at a certain temperature T. Thus, following
to the previous work (Abdalla, 2011a; Abdalla and Pistoulet, 1985;
Abdalla et al., 1987, 1989; Pistoulet et al., 1984), the rate constant for
hole (electron) transfer between the donor and acceptor species, k
et
, is
given by k
et
=p(r) exp (/kT), where p(r) is the probability for the
hole (electron) transfer normalized to the number of times the molec-
ular assembly acquires the correct conguration to pass through the
intersection of the potential energy surfaces (Abdalla and Pistoulet,
1985). In the present work,
i
is considered as the energy needed for
the electron to transfer fromone base to another base or another positive
site. In addition, the electrical conductivity increases with temperature till
a maximum value,
Limit
, which occurs when there are no localized elec-
trons in the CB i.e. when all electrons, in the band, participate in carrying
the electrical current. Thus, one canwrite:
Limit
=q
i
n
total
(E
i
) where q
is the electronic charge in coulombs, n
total
(E
i
) is the total electrons
density in the CB in cm
3
and is the drift mobility of the electrons in
cm
2
/(Vs). The application of dc electric eld on the terminals of the
DNA molecule is considered without any presumed electrical barriers
due to the metal contacts. The electric eld stimulates immediately the
free electrons to transfer within the molecule with certain drift velocity
while the localized electrons will be blocked against the potential well
boundaries and they can't carry the electric current. Thus the DNA mole-
cule will be considered as insulator if these free electrons have weak den-
sity i.e. the transfer of electric energy will be very weak. On the other
hand, high densities of free holes (electrons) lead to rapid transfer of elec-
tric current which leads to semi metallic conduction as the energy passes
easily through the molecule.
To explain the electrical behavior of DNA as an insulator: at low
temperatures most of the electrons in the band will be localized in
potential wells and by heating the molecule, the localized electrons
will attain more energy and more of them become free. Continuous
heating makes more localized electrons to be converted free and
thus, leads to increase the free electron density and at the end, at
very high temperatures, all electrons in the CB, n
total
, will be free
and will participate in the electrical conduction leading to a limit con-
ductivity,
Limit
:
Limit

4
i 1
F

i
L
E
i
10
where,
F
=qn
F
F
and
L
=q
i
n
L
(E
i
)
L
. The summation all over
the different four possibilities gives the limit conductivity at high
temperatures:
limit

i 4
i 1
q
F
n
F

L
i
n
L
E
i
: 11
Thus, the dc conductivity reaches the limit value at very high temper-
atures. So, taking into consideration the previous studies (Abdalla, 2011a;
Abdalla and Pistoulet, 1985; Abdalla et al., 1987, 1989; Pistoulet et al.,
1984) and both Eqs. (2) and (11), an expression for the dc electrical con-
ductivity,
dc
could be derived as:
dc

4
i 1
Limit
exp E
i
=kT 12
The semiconducting behavior of the DNA molecule is well manifested
through the exponent term of the activation energy E
i
/kT in the last
equation.
2.3. Derivation of complex conductivity due to band carriers: dc permittivity
Investigation of dielectric properties of DNA goes back to the early
1960s and since then a reasonable number of papers have beenpublished
(Abdalla, 2011b; Basuray et al., 2010). In these studies, two relaxation
modes are found, one at very lowfrequencies and the other at intermedi-
ate frequency. For the sake of covering vast range of frequency, it is also
mentioned, here, that there are four relaxation types in the frequency
range from10 Hz up 10 G Hz corresponding to the relaxationof localized
electrons between the four bases of the DNA molecule. This will be clari-
ed as follows: let
dc
(E
i
) be the maximum value of the dielectric con-
stant when all (free and localized) electrons in the base are polarized
under dc conditions. On the other hand, under very high frequencies con-
ditions, the minimum value of the dielectric constant establishes when
only free electrons are polarized. As the free hole (electron) responds
directly to the ac eld, they lead to a limit dielectric constant at very
high frequency,
. Thus, one can write:

dc
=[dielectric constant due to
free electrons,
]+[dielectric constant due to localized electrons,

L
]=
+
L
(E
i
); which leads to:
L
E
i

dc
E
i

: 13
In fact, after the presented model, the relaxation phenomena and
the dielectric behavior of the DNA molecule is attributed to the local-
ized electrons rather than the free ones. On the other hand, the elec-
tric behavior of the DNA molecule is attributed to the free electrons
rather than the localized ones.
2.4. Derivation of complex conductivity due to band carriers: ac conductivity
On the contrary to the dc electric eld, the localized electrons can
carry the ac electric current as they followthe polarization of the elec-
tric eld. In fact, the validity of the idea of electron localization is ex-
amined when applying ac electric eld to the total electrons of the
base under consideration: the free electrons respond immediately
(we consider their delay time is, by convention, zero; as reference),
while the localized ones respond with certain delay time due to
their localization. Inside the considered base, depends on the ener-
gy, E
i
and the temperature as:
E
i

0i
exp E
i
=kT 14
where
0i
is the relaxation time of localized electrons when T tends to
innite values and it is a characteristic value for each base. The mean
relaxation time of the DNA molecule (the measured relaxation time
through the molecule), is obtained by the summation all over the
possible four activation energies for the total bases:
1
4
i 1
1
E
i

4
i 1
1
0i
exp E
i
=kT
: 15
It is worth mentioning that, in the DNA molecule, the effect of all the
four relaxation times is present at the same time, at the same conditions,
but at a certaintemperature only one relaxationtime is rather manifested
due to the thermal activationenergy carriedby the carriers and the corre-
lation between the localized states between different bases: for example
at high temperature, the relaxation of localized electrons at the deep en-
ergy levels is rather manifested while at low temperature, the relaxation
of localized electrons at the shallow energy levels becomes dominating.
Table 1 shows also these relaxation times as a function of the activation
energy and the temperature.
0i
is taken as 1.9610
11
s. The delay of
the localized electrons, with respect to the free ones, leads to formation
of electric dipoles (each localized electron is polarized with the nearest
positive ion). The relaxation time of these dipoles gives rise to the crea-
tion of complex conductivity.
*
L
(E
i
) is considered as the conductivity due to localized electrons
and *
F
is the conductivity due to the free ones. Thus, the total conduc-
tivity, *(E
i
) of the base under consideration could be written as:
E
i

F

L
E
i
: 16
Both the real parts
F
(E
i
) and
L
(E
i
) are, classically, given as:
F
E
i
n
F
F
qand
L
E
i

i
n
L
E
i

L
q 17
F
and
L
are the drift mobility of free and localized electrons, respec-
tively. The above mentioned dipoles are considered as ideal dipoles of
Debye type. Thus, applying the well known Debye-formula on a base
of energy E
i
, the ac complex conductivity is, thus givenas the contribu-
tion of the complex conductivity due to free electrons and localized
ones: E
i

Free

dc
E
i

1j
_ _
localized
where j
1
p
; this
last equation could be rewritten as:
E
i

F
j

Free

L
E
i

2
2
1
2
2
j

dc
E
i

1
2
2
_ _
localized
18
where
L
(E
i
) is the real part of the conductivity due to localized elec-
trons and
F
is the real part of the conductivity due to free electrons. The
phase between the ac electric current due to free electrons and the ac
current due to the localized electrons are considered to have ideal
Debye behavior i.e. =90 and as it has been mentioned earlier: =
0 for free electrons. Thus, average complex conductivity due to free
electrons in the base is:

F

F
i
19
where
F
is the real part of * and
is the imaginary part. One should

note that both
F
and
are independent of the localization energy E

i
.
Similarly, for the localized electrons:
L
E
i

L
E
i

2
2
1
2
2
j

dc
E
i

1
2
2
: 20
Arranging Eqs. (18)(20) as to have the real part (conductivity) of
the total electrons and imaginary parts (permittivity) of the consid-
ered base:
E
i

F

L
E
i

2
2
1
2
2
21
E
i

dc
E
i

1
2
2
: 22
Summation over all the four possible energies will yield the net ac
conductivity and dielectric constant of the DNA molecule:
ac

4
i 1
E
i

4
i 1
F

L
E
i

2
2
1
2
2
23

4
i 1
E
i

4
i1
dc
E
i

1
2
2
: 24
The relation between and could be, directly known by omit-
ting ()
2
from the relations (23) and (24) which leads to:
ac
dc
4
i1
L
E
i

dc
_ _

dc

25

ac
4
i1
L
E
i

2
1
2
2
: 26
After the present model, the famous Cole and Cole curves can be
explained in terms energy dispersion of localized electrons in the CB
(Eq. (25)); i.e. the free electrons can't participate in these dispersions
and one must subtract
dc
from the measured ac electrical conductiv-
ity,
ac
before constructing the Cole and Cole curves. Furthermore, if
one considers the well known power relation of the ac-electrical con-
ductivity:
ac
=
dc
+
0
s
where
0
is a tting parameter, and com-
pare it with Eq. (23); also, when one can combine Eqs. (15) and (23)
to get the ac conductivity as a function of the frequency and the tem-
perature as following:
ac
dc

0
4
i 1
0i
2
exp E
i
kT
2
1
2
oi
2
exp E
i
kT
2
: 27
Eq. (27) shows that the distribution of relaxation times over the
possible four values of energies leads to interesting range of the expo-
nent factor s as: 0s2 including the value s=1 and this is, in fact,
what one nds in the literature. Simple mathematics leads to a value
of the exponent s as:
s ln

4
i 1
0
_ _

2
0i
2
exp E
i
kT
2
1
2
oi
2
exp E
i
kT
2
_ _
= ln : 28
It is easily noticed, from Eq. (28), that s is so sensitive for both fre-
quency and temperature which is what one nds in the literature.
Similarly, when combining Eqs. (15) and (24), one gets the dielectric
constant as a function of and T:

4
i1
dc
1
2
0i
2
expE
i
=kT
2
: 29
Moreover, there is similarity between the effect of temperature
on the localized electrons and the application of the ac eld to
these electrons, i.e. as the frequency increases, more localized elec-
trons acquire higher energies and could be considered as free elec-
trons which are capable of transferring the ac electric energy. As a
Table 1
Relaxation time of the localized electrons for different temperatures and activation energies.
E
250K

250K

300K

350K
eV s s s s
0.56 3.8 2.310
1
510
2
2.310
0.34 1.4110
4
2.6310
5
1.0210
5
1.5610
6
0.24 1.3610
6
4.1410
7
2.1310
7
5.6310
8
0.05 2.0310
10
1.5610
10
1.3810
10
1.0510
10
consequence, E represents the depth of the potential well in which
the electrons are localized.
2.5. Relaxation phenomena in DNA molecules
The property of relaxation of charge carriers is usedhere to elucidate
the role of band carriers in the electrical conduction through DNA mol-
ecule. As it is well known, the hole (electron) localized in a potential hill
(well) in a certain base should exhibit a characteristic motion when an
alternating electric eld, with angular frequency , is applied. If the
thermal energy, kT, of the electrons through the base remains
unchanged but varies, one expects the characteristic motion to
change accordingly, and the variation should be reected in the dielec-
tric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) spectrum. At a certain temperature,
the DRS should be characterized by a denite relaxation time . In this
regard, at a certain applied frequency, f
0
, the localized electrons should
have maximumresponse with their natural oscillations; i.e. they have a
maximum displacement far away from their rest position. This occurs
when
0
=1; where
0

1
2f
0
. After ac-conductivity experimental
measurements, Tomi et al. (2007) have found two types of relaxations
in DNA molecules and they have claimed the presence of relaxation
phenomena at two distinctive relaxation times, 3.7210
5
s and
4.2810
7
s, respectively. In the same regard, Long et al. (2003) have
found that charge carriers relax in the range 10
2
410
2
s. In addi-
tion, Takashima et al. (1986) have found that charge carriers in the
DNA molecule can relax at a relaxation time of 1.610
10
s. Thus,
after these experimental evidences, one can consider the presence of
four relaxation times in the DNA molecule which are at 210
2
,
1.9410
4
s, 4.2810
7
s and 1.610
10
s, respectively. These re-
laxation times are characterized by oscillations around a neutral locali-
zation of the charge. One should distinguish between these relaxation
times (110
2
s1.610
10
s) and the rate by which a charge
jumps over a potential barrier through the DNA double helix (some pi-
coseconds (Voityuk et al., 2004)).
Now, these four relaxation times will be correlated with the four
activation energies stated after the work of Richardson et al. (2004)
0.06, (A); 0.09, (G); 0.33, (C); and 0.44, (T) as it will be demonstrated
in Section 3.3.1 (Fig. 1).
3. Results and discussions
3.1. dc-Conductivity of moving DNA molecule
After the presented model, in dc electrical conditions, the free holes
are only responsible for carrying the electric current through the differ-
ent bases. The DNAis considered, rst, as aninsulator, and has tted the
experimental values of Povailas and Kiveris (2008) with Eq. (12). The
suitable tting parameters are found to be as shown in Table 2
3.2. Electron density and mobility in DNA molecule
The experimental data of electron density in the DNA molecule is
rare in the literature and not easy to be performed, so it is difcult to
examine the validity of Eq. (7). However, a technique is developed to
estimate the electron density in the DNA from the experimental data
of the dc-conductivity. First, Tran et al. (2000) have, experimentally,
reported that the electrical conductivity is composed of two distinc-
tive parts: 1 at low temperatures (80 K) the conductivity is nearly
temperature independent and 2 the effect of shallow activation
energy N
sh
will mask the effect of the deep activation energy E
sh
,
thus, Eq. (9) can be approximated as:
4
i 1
N
C
exp E
i
E
F
=kTN
sh
: 30
This can lead to an almost constant density of electrons in the CB. On
the other hand, at high temperatures (400 K), Eq. (9) could be approxi-
mated as:
4
i1
N
C
exp E
i
E
F
=kT
i4
i1
N
d
1 g
dd
exp E
F
E
d
E
i
=kT
31
where N
C

2mkT
h
2
_ _3
2
is the density of states in the CB, m*is the effective
electrons mass; it is taken as m*=4.95 m
0
(Abdalla et al., 1987) where
m
0
is the electron mass at rest and h is Planck's constant; thus, N
C
could
be written as: N
C
2:64 10
16
T
3
2
cm
3
. To estimate the Fermi level
temperature dependence, Eq. (31) still has two unknowns: N
sh
and E
F
.
Similar to what it is done in low temperature, at high temperatures,
Eq. (9) still has two unknowns: N
d
and E
F
; where E
d
=0.33 eV and g
dd
will be taken=2 as it has been used in Abdalla et al. (1989).
To get a third equation in order to solve the neutrality equation for
E
F
, one considers that there is a certain temperature T
c
at which the
electron density n is due to two equal parts: one from the shallow
level N
sh
and the other is due to the ionization of the deep level N
d
.
Thus, at T
c
what it is done in low temperature, at high temperatures,
Eq. (9) still has two unknowns: N
d
and E
F
; where E
d
=0.33 eV and g
dd
will be taken=2 as it has been used in references (Abdalla et al.,
1987, 1989). To get a third equation in order to solve the neutrality
equation for E
F
, one considers that there is a certain temperature T
c
at which the electron density n is due to two equal parts: one from
the shallow level N
sh
and the other is due to the ionization of the
deep level N
d
. Thus, at T
c
:
n
i 4
i 1
N
d
1 g
dd
exp E
F
E
d
E
i
=kT
c

N
sh
32
0 5 10 15 20 25
10
-12
10
-8
10
-4
10
0
10
4
10
8
10
12
10
-12
10
-8
10
-4
10
0
10
4
10
8
10
12
R
e
l
a
x
a
t
i
o
n

T
i
m
e

o
f

L
o
c
a
l
i
z
e
d

c
h
a
r
g
e

C
a
r
r
i
e
r
s
,

s
1000/T, K
-1
E = 0.56 eV
E = 0.33 eV
E = 0.24 eV
E = 0.05 eV
0 2 4 6 8 10
Fig. 1. The relaxation time of the localized charge carriers as a function of temperature
for different activation energies.
Table 2
Variation of the correlation factor with the electron afnity through a DNA molecule.
i E
i
,
eV
i
[
Limit
]
i
,
1
cm
1
Povailas and
Kiveris (2008)
DNA insulator
Tran et al.
(2000)
DNA conductor
Povailas and
Kiveris (2008)
DNA insulator
Tran et al.
(2000)
DNA conductor
1 0.56 0.989 1 1 810
6
2 0.33 0.001 1 110
3
410
5
3 0.24 0.0001 1 110
4
310
4
4 0.05 610
10
1 6.9310
10
810
2
and
i4
i1
N
d
1 g
dd
exp E
F
E
d
E
i
=kT
c

N
sh
: 33
Now to estimate the critical temperature T
c
, one extrapolates the
curve of the electrical conductivity at high temperature andextrapolates
the curve of the electrical conductivity at low temperature; then the in-
tersection lies at T
c
as shown in Fig. 2. T
c
for the experimental data of
Tran et al. (2000) is found to be about 240 K and 146 K for Povailas
and Kiveris (2008). Taking into account the above mentioned values of
E
i
and N
C
and solving Eqs. (30) and (31); one nds that: N
C
=
9.8210
19
cm
3
at 240 K, and N
sh
=1.1810
16
cm
3
, E
F
=0.11 eV;
which gives N
d
=1.3410
18
cm
3
and n=2.3510
16
cm
3
. Then
solving Eq. (9) for E
F
for different temperatures, one can nd the Fermi
energy as a function of temperature which is illustrated in Fig. 3 (Tran
et al., 2000). From this gure, one can notice that a maximum of E
F
lays at about 0.1 eV at 215 K. Using Eq. (5) and the data in Fig. 3, one
can calculate n as a function of temperature. Fig. 4 shows n as a function
of temperature one can observe that at 240 K a steep rise of n with tem-
perature begins with activation energy at high temperature about
0.33 eV; andn=1.8810
19
cm
3
at 300 K. To calculate the drift mobil-
ity of charges through the different bases within the molecule at 300 K,
one considers the above mentioned obtained value of electron density
n=2.3510
16
cm
3
with a conductivity 1
1
cm
1
which leads to
an approximate mobility 257 cm
2
/(Vs). Moreover, the free electron
density, n
F
, calculated after Eq. (2), is plotted as a function of tempera-
ture in Fig. 4, for Tran et al.'s (2000) experimental data. Fromthis gure,
one cancompare betweenthe free electrondensity, n
F
andthe total elec-
tron density n and notice that the ratio n
F
/n tends to unity at high tem-
peratures while it is about 4.6410
15
/1.3110
20
cm
1
=3.5310
5
at 80 K. Because DNA has a linear structure, it is more convenient to ex-
press n in terms of cm
1
instead of cm
3
; Beleznay et al. (2006) have
reported that the volume of an elementary unit of DNA cell equals
1.510
8
cm510
8
cm1010
8
cm; which gives an area of
about 7.510
16
cm
2
; thus the linear electron density is about
1.2210
2
cm
1
(at room temperature). In addition, it is more conve-
nient to express N
C
, for DNA molecule, in cm
1
. The DNA unit area is
about 7.510
16
cm
2
; thus the linear density-of-state in the CB for a
DNA molecule is about 19.8T
1.5
cm
1
which gives (N
C
)
300 K
=
1.0310
5
cm
1
at 300 K .
3.3. ac-Conductivity of moving DNA molecule
Georgakilas et al. (1998) have reported experimental data on mam-
malian DNA macro molecules at different frequencies and different
temperatures. In this section, their ac complex conductivity data are
analyzed in the light of the presented model. In particular, the depen-
dence of the electrical conductivity
ac
and the dielectric permittivity
as a function of angular frequency, and temperature: at 25 C,
ac
starts from a constant value at 1.2910
3
1
cm
1
, then increases
with as
0.68
till another constant value 9.2610
3
1
cm
1
.
After our model:
dc
=1.2910
3
1
cm
1
and
total
=9.26
10
3
1
cm
1
. These experimental data are tted with Eq. (23)
and the best tting parameters are given when the relaxation time
of localized electrons =1.7410
4
s.
The experimental ac-conductivities are shown as symbols in Fig. 5;
while the calculated values (after Eq. (23)) are shown as solid lines on
the same gure.
It is shownthat there is a goodaccordance betweenthe calculatedand
the experimental values. Fig. 6 shows the variations of
ac
as a function of
temperature. The symbols represent experimental data andsolidlines are
for calculated values (after Eq. (23)). There is good agreement between
lines and open circuits when taking =1.7410
4
s. Subtracting the
dc conductivity fromthe ac part; Eq. (28) gives: s~0.69 which in good ac-
cordance with their experimental value 0.68
62
. To calculate the dielectric
50 100 150 200 250 300 350
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
F
e
r
m
i

E
n
e
r
g
y
,

E
C

-

E
F
,

e
V
Temperature, K
DNA as Insulator
DNA as Conductor
0 2 4 6 8 10
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Fig. 3. Fermi energy as a function of temperature formthe data of Tran et al. (2000) (DNA
conductor) dashed thick line and Povailas and Kiveris (2008) (DNA insulator) solid line.
2 4 6 8 10 12
1E15
1E16
1E17
1E18
1E19
1E20
1000/T, K
n
F
Tarn et al
n
F
Povailas et al
n
Total
Tarn et al
n
Total
Povailas et al
DNA insulator
DNA Conductor
E
l
e
c
t
r
o
n

D
e
n
s
i
t
y
,

c
m
-
3
Fig. 4. Thetotal electrondensityinthe conductionband, n
total
andthefreeelectrondensityn
F
as a function of temperature; for both DNA as a conductor and DNA as an insulator.
0 5 10 15 20 25
10
-13
10
-10
10
-7
10
-4
10
-1
10
2
1000/T, K
-1
Calculated after Eq. 12
Experimental after Tarn et al (2000)
Calculated after Eq. 12
Experimental after Povailas et al
(2008)
0 5 10 15 20 25
10
-13
10
-9
10
-5
10
-1
Fig. 2. The experimental dc-conductivities as a function of the temperature, of Tran et al.
(2000) and Povailas and Kiveris (2008), are shown as symbols and the calculated values
(after Eq. (12)) are shown as solid lines.
constant, , Eq. (24) is used; then the experimental data of Georgakilas et
al. (1998) are tted with the calculated values. Fig. 7 shows their experi-
mental data as symbols and the calculated values as solid lines.
The accordance between the solid line and circles in both gures
are good when considering the tting parameter =1.7410
4
s.
Moreover, the electric dispersion , is calculated, after Eq. (26), as a
function of the frequency and it is found that, at 25 C, passes by
a maximum at about 910 Hz which corresponds to a relaxation time
=1/(2*910)=1.7510
4
s (Fig. 8). Moreover, the electric disper-
sion , is calculated, after Eq. (26), as a function of the frequency and
found that, at 25 C, passes by a maximum at about 910 Hz which
corresponds to a relaxation time of =1/(2*910)=1.7510
4
s
(Fig. 8).
This last value coincides with the early mentioned relaxation time
of =1.7410
4
s. The relaxation time of the localized electrons is
given by the product /
ac
, which varies from a base to another.
3.3.1. Relaxation phenomena in DNA molecule
An electron localized in potential well in a certain base in DNA
molecule should exhibit a characteristic motion when an alternating
electric eld, with angular frequency , is applied.
If the thermal energy, kT, of the electrons through the base re-
mains unchanged but varies, one expects the characteristic motion
to change accordingly, and the variation should be reected in the di-
electric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) spectrum. This occurs when
0
=1; where
0

1
2f
0
.
The symbols represent experimental data and solid lines are for
calculated values (after Eq. (24)).
Tomi et al. (2007) have experimentally found two types of relax-
ations in DNA molecules and they have claimed the presence of relax-
ation phenomena at two distinctive relaxation times, 3.7210
5
s
and 4.2810
7
s, respectively. Also, Long et al. (2003) have found
that charge carriers could relax in the range 10
2
410
2
s. In addi-
tion, as it is above mentioned, also, Takashima et al. (1986) have
found that charge carriers in the DNA molecule could relax at a relax-
ation time of 1.610
10
s. Thus, one can consider the presence of
four relaxation times in the DNA molecule which are at 210
2
,
1.9410
4
, 4.2810
7
and 1.610
10
s, respectively. This is well
manifested in Fig. 9 where the relaxation time , obtained using the
maxima in Fig. 8, is illustrated as a function of temperature. The elec-
tron transfer from the base G to C
vertical
is accompanied by an energy
difference E
GA
=0.05 eV (Richardson et al., 2004); which corre-
sponds to a relaxation of time about 1.610
10
s. One can notice
the exponential behavior of which veries Eq. (15). In the same re-
gard, one should notice that these relaxation times are correlated
with the above mentioned four thermal activation energies. As a con-
sequence, and with the consideration of Richardson et al.'s (2004)
work the above mentioned activation energies are correlated with
the corresponding electron transfer from one base to another.
Calculated at 200K
Calculated at 300K
Calculated at 400K
Experimental data after Povaillas et al
Frequency, Hz
10
0
10
2
10
4
10
6
10
8
10
10
10
0
10
2
10
4
10
6
10
8
10
10
10
-1
10
0
10
-1
10
0
200 K
300 K
400 K
a
c

E
l
e
c
t
r
i
c
a
l

C
o
n
d
u
c
t
i
v
i
t
y
,
-
1
c
m
-
1

Fig. 5. The experimental ac-conductivities as a function of the frequency are shown as
symbols and the calculated values are shown as solid lines.
4 6 8 10 12 14
1E-6
1E-5
1E-4
1E-3
0.01
0.1
1
Calculted after equation 23 for 100Hz
Calculted after equation 23 for 1MHz
Experimental after Povaillas for 100Hz
Experimental after Povaillas for 1M Hz
1000/T, K
-1
4 6 8 10 12 14
1E-6
1E-5
1E-4
1E-3
0.01
0.1
1
frequency = 1 MHz
frequency = 100Hz
a
c

E
l
e
c
t
r
i
c
a
l

c
o
n
d
u
c
t
i
v
i
t
y
,
-
1
c
m
-
1

Fig. 6. The variations of
ac
as a function of temperature: the open symbols represent
experimental data and solid lines are for calculated values (after Eq. (23)).
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
0
1x10
6
2x10
6
3x10
6
4x10
6
5x10
6
Experimental after Povaillas
at 100Hz
Experimental after Povaillas
at 1M Hz
Calculated at 100 Hz
Calculated at 1 M Hz
D
i
e
l
e
c
t
r
i
c

C
o
n
s
t
a
n
t
,

'
1000/T, K
-1
100 Hz
1 MHz
Fig. 7. The dependence of the dielectric constant,
ac
as a function of temperatures for
different frequencies.
10
2
10
3
10
4
10
5
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
Calculated " 353 K
Calculated " 328 K
Calculated " 298 K
Experimental " 298 K
After Povaillas et al 2008
E
l
e
c
t
r
i
c

D
i
s
p
e
r
s
i
o
n

"
(
)
Frequency, Hz
Fig. 8. The electric dispersion, calculatedafter Eq. (26), as a functionof the frequency(solid
lines) and experimental values (as symbols): at 25 C, passes by a maximum at about
910 Hz which corresponds to a relaxation time of =1.7510
4
s.
Similarly, the electron transfer frombase C to base Gis accompanied
by a relaxation time of about 4.2810
7
s; which corresponds to
an energy difference of E
CG
=0.330.09=0.24 eV (Richardson et
al., 2004), also, E
TA
=0.440.06=0.38 eV and E
TVertical T
=
0.940.44=0.5 eV. This is summarized in Table 3.
3.4. Conductivity of a single vibrating DNA duplex with a carbon nanotube
contact
In this section, the presented model will be applied to t the ex-
perimental model of Guo et al. (2008). These authors have inserted
DNA strands between two single-walled carbon nano-tube (SWNT)
electrodes and have measured the electrical conductivity at room
temperature. The following points will be considered, when applying
the present model:
(1) The contact resistances between SWNT and the DNAare of major
importance and they will be consideredto play animportant role
in the conduction mechanism.
(2) The conguration Metallic contactSWNTDNASWNTMetallic
contact is dened in this section as the device and is considered
as a eld effect transistor (FET) where the SWNTs represent the
source and the drain, while DNA molecule stands for gate of the
transistor (it plays the role of a p-channel as it will be proofed
later in this section).
(3) The polarization of the sample has been given by the authors Guo
et al. (2008) as follows: positive terminal(CH
2
)
3
Pi5-AGT ACA
GTC ATC GCG-3Pi(CH
2
)
3
negative terminal which makes us
consider the forward bias of the DNA molecule to be positively
biased.
(4) In the presence of a gate potential (transfer potential), V
GS
, several
steps will occur when applying external reverse potential V
DS
be-
tween the terminals of the device: (i) rst, the extended bands
bending in at the SWNTDNA interface increases, eventually to
the point at which holes have a high probability of jumping
from the localized state to the valence band (HOMO); thus they
becomes free to carry the electric current, (I
DS
) and controlled
by the gate potential V
GS
. The effect of higher dopant concentra-
tions can also be realized by accumulating (or depleting) carriers
from the SWNTDNA interface (with a gate bias) for a DNA of a
given dopant level. (ii) In addition to the precedent point, the en-
ergy of localized holes, E
h
becomes an effective variable which
can be changed to affect the charge transfer in the molecule. Be-
cause the localized holes in the hills (potential wells in the con-
duction band LUMO for electrons) inside the VB will acquire
more energy from the applied V
GS
and can jump to overcome
these potential hills, and then become free to carry the electric en-
ergy (current). (iii) Therefore, the effect of larger localization ener-
gies can be countered by stronger accumulation (at least until
quantum carrier connement becomes signicant).
This allows for greater thermal operating stability without a signi-
cant loss in the drift current I
DS
. The accumulation of carriers around the
SWNT in the presence of both V
DS
and V
GS
results in the formation of a
negative Schottky eld effect (Greatbanks et al., 2000). The behavior is
similar to that of a p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor FET (Eley and
Spivey, 1962). The source-drain current, I
DS
decreases strongly with in-
creasing gate voltage, which demonstrates that the given device operates
as a eld effect transistor and also that transport through the semicon-
ducting DNA is dominated by positive carriers (holes). Neglecting the
diameterdependence of contact resistances; for V
G
b0 V, the curves
describing the current as a function of the gate voltage saturates indicting
that the contact resistance R
C
at the SWNT electrodes starts to dominate
and the total resistance will be: R
DS
=R
DNA
+2R
C
of the device. Here
R
DNA
denotes the gate-dependent resistance of the DNA molecule. After
the experimental work of Guo et al. (2008), the saturation value of the
current corresponds to R50 mV/16 n A=3.16 M. Similar contact
resistances (1.1 M) are found for metallic SWNT (Lagerqvist et al.,
2006). This leads to the conclusion that R
DNA
should be inferior to R
DS
i.e. R
DNA
b3.16 M. If the gate voltage (the on-site energy) is increased
in reverse direction, then the drift current, I
DS
, will decrease until the
channel will be pinched off at a critical voltage; at which I
DS
=0. This is
quite seen in the experimental work of Guo et al., 2008, Fig. 2-a: at high
negative values of the gate potential, one can observe that the
maximum value of the drain current I
DS
is nearly constant at about
16 nA which represents the on state of the FET (maximum conductivity
of the channel). At this on state, the potential V
DS
is divided into the
two portions: one affects the two SWNTs, 2V
C
and the other potential
V
DNA
is applied on the DNA. One can write: R
DNA

V
SD
I
SD
2 . Tans et al.
(1998) have calculated the contact resistance between SWNT and metal-
lic gold to be about 1.1 M; thus, the last equation could give directly the
DNA resistance as 0.96 M. This gives a potential drop across the
SWNT, V
C
=17.6 mV which leads to a potential drop across the molecule
V
DNA
=V
DS
2*V
C
=50 mV2*17.6 mV=14.8 mV. One can depict the
charge transfer in the device as follows: as the gold has a high work func-
tion, it can easily withdrawelectrons fromthe SWNT leaving the conduc-
tion band (LUMO) of this latter rich in holes. Electrons from the valence
band (HOMO) of this latter will be excited, and overcome the barrier of
the forbidden gap energy, e.g. to compensate for the created holes in
the conduction band and hence the valance band will be enriching with
holes ready to carry the current (free holes in the VB). These free holes
constitute the current I
DS
. Consequently, when increasing the reverse
gate potential, the current in the channel, I
DS
starts to decrease exponen-
tially according to the relation:
I
DS
2
V
C
R
C
_ _
V
DNA
R
DNA
exp
qV
GS
E
h

nkT
_ _ _ _
34
where is the height of the potential barrier between DNA and the
SWNT (which is expected to be e.g. in this case), E
h
is the thermal acti-
vation energy (Sze et al., 1964), n is the ideality factor (Sze et al., 1964).
2.8 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4
5.0x10
-5
1.0x10
-4
1.5x10
-4
2.0x10
-4
R
e
l
a
x
a
t
i
o
n

t
i
m
e

,

s
e
c
o
n
d
s
1000/T, K
-1
Experimental after Takashima et al
Calculated after equation (14)
Fig. 9. The relaxation time , calculated after Eq. (15), as a function of the temperature.
Table 3
The relaxation time , at room temperature, as a function of the activation energy and
the corresponding energy transfer from a base to another.
Authors Relaxation time ,
seconds
Hole
transfer
Corresponding activation
energy E, eV
Long et al. (2003) 210
2
TA 0.56
Tran et al. (2000) 3.7210
5
CG 0.33
Tomi et al. (2007) 4.2810
7
T
vertical
A 0.24
Takashima et al.
(1986)
1.610
10
GC
vertical
0.05
The best t betweenthe experimental values of Guo et al. (2008) withthe
last equation (Eq. (34)) are: E
h
=0.162 eV, n=1, =0.791 eV. This
last value is not too far from the energy gap of the SWNTs e.g. 0.8 eV
(Xue and Ranter, 2003). The t between calculated data after Eq. (34)
and experimental values (Guo et al., 2008) are sown in Fig. 10.
The origin of the holes is an important question to address. One pos-
sibility is that the carrier concentration is inherent to the DNA molecule
itself. Another possibility is that the majority of carriers are injected at
the goldSWNT contacts; then to the molecule via the amide groups.
The higher work function of gold (5 eV) leads to the generation of
holes in the DNA by electron transfer from the DNA to the gold elec-
trodes (Spalenka et al., 2011). Assuming that the band-bending length
in their SWNT is neither very short nor very long, Tans et al. (1998)
have argued that the FET operation can be explained based on this
charge transfer (Spalenka et al., 2011). At V
G
=0 V, the device is on
and the Fermi energy approaches the maximumheights of the potential
hills in the valence band throughout the DNA. If indeed the band-
bending length is comparable to the length the SWNT, a positive gate
voltage would generate an energy barrier of an appreciable fraction of
eV
G
in the center of the channel (since the gate/DNA distance is shorter
than the source/drain separation). The threshold voltage V
GScr
require
to suppress hole conduction by depleting the DNA center would be de-
termined by the thermal energy available for overcoming this barrier.
Thus, V
G
should be much lower than 4 V (which is observed in their ex-
perimental data Guo et al., 2008). Therefore it is important to explore
the other possibility, namely, the carriers are an inherent property of
the molecule itself. In this case, it is expected that an inhomogeneous
hole distribution along the DNA will affect drastically the charge trans-
fer through the DNA. The validity of explanation can be veried by ex-
amining the charge population on the different CG and AT pairs. It can
clearly be seen that the population of holes on the CG pairs is quite
large, while the population on the AT one is always negligible. Thus,
the hole density through the molecule varies as a function of energy
and displacement vector (location) while the Fermi energy E
F
is kept
constant value throughout the different bases. This makes the valence
band energy; E
V
itself uctuates around a most probable value E
V0
. All
holes at E
V
having energies more than E
h
are considered to be local-
ized in potential hills; and similarly the conduction band energy E
C
uc-
tuates around a most probable value E
C0
where all electrons having
energies less than E
h
are considered to be localized in potential
wells. This can be understoodas uctuation of the highest occupied mo-
lecular orbits HOMO around a most probable value E
V0
while E
C0
is the
most probable value due to uctuation of the lowest unoccupied molec-
ular orbits LUMO. This will be called potential uctuations PFs of the ex-
tended bands (HOMO and LUMO) in DNA molecule. If one considers
that each of the 15 bases mentioned in the work of Guo et al. (2008)
has a partial positive charge (plausible on the hydrogen atoms through-
out the molecule) and a partial negative charge (plausible on the oxy-
gen atoms throughout the molecule), this conguration leads one to
consider that any base inside DNAaccumulates the charges as ancapac-
itor with capacitance Cj.
An approximate estimate of the hole density can then be obtained by
writing the total charge on the 15 base DNA as:
Q V
GScr
15
j1
C
j
where C
15
j1
C
j
is the sum of all the 15 capacitances all over the mole-
cule and is the threshold voltage necessary to completely deplete all
charges from the capacitances (bases). The DNA capacitance per unit
length with respect to the back gate is:
C
L

2
0
ln
2h
r
with r, h and L being
the DNAradius, thickness andlengthrespectively; is the relative dielec-
tric constant. As a rst approximation, one will consider that the 15 bases
are equally chargedand that they are linearly arrangedina straight man-
ner. Thus, using reasonable values: L=20 nm15 base, r=0.8 nm, h=
140 nm and 88.4 (Lankhno and Fialko, 2003), the one-dimensional
hole density, p can be evaluated as p
Q
qL
710
5
cm
1
from V
G
=
4 V, where q is the electronic charge. The large hole density suggests
that DNA is degenerate and/or that is doped with acceptors, for example
as a result of its processing (Zang et al., 2010).
Assuming that the transport in DNA occurs by drift motion at
room temperature, one can estimate the mobility of the holes from
the transconductance of the FET as follows: in linear regime, it
is given by
dI
dV
G

h
C
L
2
_ _
V
SD
. Subtracting the contact resistance
effect (transconductance of the contacts), one can obtain a DNA
transconductance of
dI
dV
G
=1.4910
8
A/Vat V
G
=50 mV, corresponding
to a hole mobility m
h
93.9 cm
2
/(Vs). This value is not too far fromthe
previous mobility (257 cm
2
/Vs) reported in Section 3.2 in this work.
Generally, the published values of the mobility in the DNA molecule
vary in a vast range: 10
10
cm
2
/Vsb
h
b225 cm
2
/Vs (Liao et al.,
2010; Salieb-Beugelaar et al., 2008). However, the value reported in the
present study is close to the mobility in heavily p-doped nano silicon of
comparable hole density (Zang et al., 2010), but considerably smaller
than 10
4
cm
2
/Vs observed in nano graphene (Castor et al., 2010). More-
over, it is difcult to accept a mobility of the order 10
10
cm
2
/Vs in a
nano-channel. One should distinguish between the drift motion of the
charge carriers alongside the molecule and the trapping rate of DNA
which is insensitive to the potential (Cai et al., 2010; Kreft et al., 2008).
The relatively high value of the DNA mobility is consistent with
the initial assumption of drift transport and conrms that the DNA
contains a large number of scatter points possibly related to defects
in the DNA or structural-disorder at the DNAgate-interface due to
roughness. SWNTs are known to conform to topography of the sur-
face so as to increase their adhesion energy. Such deformations can
lead to electronic structure changes (Cai et al., 2010), which may act
as scattering centers.
4. Conclusions
In conclusion, the presented work explains the effect of natural vi-
brations of DNA molecule on the mechanism of charge transfer
through the DNA molecule and it is able to explain the controversy
of the complex conductivity as a function of frequency and tempera-
ture observed in DNA molecules in a wide region of the frequency and
temperature. Moreover, the presented results suggest that the con-
duction mechanism through DNA is due predominantly to electronic
origins rather than ionic ones.
-4 -3 -2 -1 0
0
4
8
12
16
20
Experimental data after Guo et al [35]
Calculated after the present work
S
o
u
r
c
e

D
r
a
i
n

C
u
r
r
e
n
t
,

I
S
D
,

n
A
Gate voltage, volts
Fig. 10. The gure shows the calculated values after Eq. (34) as a solid line and the experi-
mental values of Guo et al. (2008) are shown as open squares. One can notice a good agree-
ment between the experimental and calculated values.
A strong temperature dependence of conductivity observed at
high temperatures and very weak temperature dependence at weak
temperatures is comprehensible in the framework of the presented
model. It is worth noting that the free electron density dependences
at both low and high temperatures are calculated using simple set
of parameters (doesn't exceed three tting parameters
dc
,
L
, and
). The correlation between different bases and the electron afnity

of every base plays an essential role in the charge transport through
DNA molecule. These results reveal a high possibility for the existence
of four thermal activation energies corresponding to the four bases of
the molecule. Further experimental data on DNA with accurate metal-
lic contacts at high frequencies and temperatures should elucidate
our proposal. It is expected that the linear drift motion of charges
alongside the helix has multiple medical applications. Speak about
DNA cancer charge transfer and tumor. Yet, the present results dem-
onstrate that charge transfer through DNA molecule have sufciently
high importance in DNA reparation and in medical and technological
applications.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge with thanks the nancial
support of King Abdulaziz University deanship of scientic research
(grant no. 1130-D 1432).
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lies in the range: 0b

b1: the minimum correlation

. Thus, one can write:

]+[dielectric constant due to localized electrons,

is the imaginary part. One should

are independent of the localization energy E

). The correlation between different bases and the electron afnity

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