Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jun 23.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2010 Jun 18;21(4):439–476. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2010.05.002

Figure 20.

Figure 20

Current rectification in man-made electronic circuits, in biology and nanobiotechnology. (a) Semiconductor diode with a p–n junction that allows electrons to flow only in one direction. (b) Inward-rectifying potassium channel (Kir2.2) that conducts potassium ions most efficiently in one direction. The current versus voltage graph is from reference [48] with permission. (c) Two different derivatives of gramicidin (one carrying a positive charge at its C-terminus and the other carrying a negative charge at its C-terminus) form a pore across a membrane. This heterodimeric gramicidin pore acts as the smallest nanofluidic diode and rectifies current. The current versus voltage graph is from reference [350•] with permission.