Micron-Scale Fabrication of Ultrathin Amorphous Copper Nanosheets Templated by DNA Scaffolds

J Am Chem Soc. 2023 Mar 1;145(8):4553-4563. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c12009. Epub 2023 Feb 20.

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) amorphous materials could outperform their crystalline counterparts toward various applications because they have more defects and reactive sites and thus could exhibit a unique surface chemical state and provide an advanced electron/ion transport path. Nevertheless, it is challenging to fabricate ultrathin and large-sized 2D amorphous metallic nanomaterials in a mild and controllable manner due to the strong metallic bonds between metal atoms. Here, we reported a simple yet fast (10 min) DNA nanosheet (DNS)-templated method to synthesize micron-scale amorphous copper nanosheets (CuNSs) with a thickness of 1.9 ± 0.4 nm in aqueous solution at room temperature. We demonstrated the amorphous feature of the DNS/CuNSs by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Interestingly, we found that they could transform to crystalline forms under continuous electron beam irradiation. Of note, the amorphous DNS/CuNSs exhibited much stronger photoemission (∼62-fold) and photostability than dsDNA-templated discrete Cu nanoclusters due to the elevation of both the conduction band (CB) and valence band (VB). Such ultrathin amorphous DNS/CuNSs hold great potential for practical applications in biosensing, nanodevices, and photodevices.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Copper*
  • DNA Replication
  • DNA*
  • Electron Transport
  • Electrons

Substances

  • Copper
  • DNA