Regulating phase behavior of nanoparticle assemblies through engineering of DNA-mediated isotropic interactions

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Crystallography

Background:

• Achieving controlled self-assembly of isotropic particles into specific crystal structures is key for designing functional materials.
• Generating low-coordinated crystal structures from isotropic particles remains a significant challenge in materials synthesis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate that isotropic pairwise interparticle interactions can be rationally tuned via DNA shell design.
• To enable the transition from common lattices to exotic and low-coordinated crystal structures using spherical particles.

Main Methods:

• Utilized computational modeling and experimental approaches.
• Employed DNA-functionalized nanoparticles with rationally designed DNA shells.
• Investigated tunable interparticle interactions.

Main Results:

• Successfully transitioned assembly from high-coordinated FCC-CuAu and BCC-CsCl lattices to SC-NaCl and cubic diamond structures.
• Demonstrated the realization of BCC-CsCl, SC-NaCl, and a weakly ordered cubic diamond phase.
• Revealed the phase behavior of isotropic nanoparticles with DNA-shell tunable interactions.

Conclusions:

• DNA shell design offers a powerful strategy for controlling nanoparticle self-assembly into diverse crystal structures.
• This approach facilitates the creation of non-close-packed lattices, promising for advanced functional materials.
• The ease of synthesis makes this method highly promising for practical applications.