Clathrate colloidal crystals

Haixin Lin; Sangmin Lee; Lin Sun; Matthew Spellings; Michael Engel; Sharon C Glotzer; Chad A Mirkin

doi:10.1126/science.aal3919

Clathrate colloidal crystals

Science. 2017 Mar 3;355(6328):931-935. doi: 10.1126/science.aal3919.

Authors

Haixin Lin^{1

2}, Sangmin Lee³, Lin Sun^{2

4}, Matthew Spellings³, Michael Engel⁵, Sharon C Glotzer^{6

7

8}, Chad A Mirkin^{9

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
² International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
⁵ Institute for Multiscale Simulation, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. sglotzer@umich.edu chadnano@northwestern.edu.
⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
⁸ Biointerfaces Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. sglotzer@umich.edu chadnano@northwestern.edu.

PMID: 28254936
DOI: 10.1126/science.aal3919

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.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Colloids
Crystallization
DNA / chemistry*
Microscopy, Electron
Models, Chemical
Nanoparticles / chemistry*

Substances

Colloids
DNA