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- Title
Probing interfacial equilibration in microsphere crystals formed by DNA-directed assembly.
- Authors
Kim, Anthony J.; Scarlett, Raynaldo; Biancaniello, Paul L.; Sinno, Talid; Crocker, John C.
- Abstract
DNA is the premier material for directing nanoscale self-assembly, having been used to produce many complex forms. Recently, DNA has been used to direct colloids and nanoparticles into novel crystalline structures, providing a potential route to fabricating meta-materials with unique optical properties. Although theory has sought the crystal phases that minimize total free energy, kinetic barriers remain essentially unstudied. Here we study interfacial equilibration in a DNA-directed microsphere self-assembly system and carry out corresponding detailed simulations. We introduce a single-nucleotide difference in the DNA strands on two mixed microsphere species, which generates a free-energy penalty for inserting ‘impurity’ spheres into a ‘host’ sphere crystal, resulting in a reproducible segregation coefficient. Comparison with simulation reveals that, under our experimental conditions, particles can equilibrate only with a few nearest neighbours before burial by the growth front, posing a potential impediment to the growth of complex structures.
- Subjects
GENES; EQUILIBRATION (Cognition); DNA; NANOPARTICLES; MICROSPHERES
- Publication
Nature Materials, 2009, Vol 8, Issue 1, p52
- ISSN
1476-1122
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nmat2338