Electronic properties of long DNA nanowires in dry and wet conditions

The electronic behavior of the long disordered DNA nanowires in both dry and wet conditions is investigated through the band structure and density of states of a tight-binding Hamiltonian model for π-electrons of the backbone, using Green׳s functions approach. For a chosen set of parameters in the dry case, semiconducting behavior is reproduced. It is also shown that for sufficiently long strands, the order of the base pairs has no noticeable effect on the energy band-gap. Moreover, this semiconducting duplex shows metallic tendencies when interacting with the environment of polar molecules.