Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 6, 2026

A Microfluidic Approach for the Study of Ice and Clathrate Hydrate Crystallization
Published on: August 18, 2022
Clathrate colloidal crystals
Haixin Lin1,2, Sangmin Lee3, Lin Sun2,4
1Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Abstract:
DNA-programmable assembly has been used to deliberately synthesize hundreds of different colloidal crystals spanning dozens of symmetries, but the complexity of the achieved structures has so far been limited to small unit cells. We assembled DNA-modified triangular bipyramids (~250-nanometer long edge, 177-nanometer short edge) into clathrate architectures. Electron microscopy images revealed that at least three different structures form as large single-domain architectures or as multidomain materials. Ordered assemblies, isostructural to clathrates, were identified with the help of molecular simulations and geometric analysis. These structures are the most sophisticated architectures made via programmable assembly, and their formation can be understood based on the shape of the nanoparticle building blocks and mode of DNA functionalization.
Related Concept Videos
The Colloidal State
Ionic Crystal Structures
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...
Colloidal precipitates
Colloids
Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization
Initiating crystallization involves manipulating the concentration of the solute and the temperature of the solution. Since crystal growth occurs when the ratio of concentration and solubility of the solute in the solvent...
Recrystallization: Solid–Solution Equilibria

