The Importance of Salt-Enhanced Electrostatic Repulsion in Colloidal Crystal Engineering with DNA.

ABSTRACT: Realizing functional colloidal single crystals requires precise control over nanoparticles in three dimensions across multiple size regimes. In this regard, colloidal crystallization with programmable atom equivalents (PAEs) composed of DNA-modified nanoparticles allows one to program in a sequence-specific manner crystal symmetry, lattice parameter, and, in certain cases, crystal habit. Here, we explore how salt and the electrostatic properties of DNA regulate the attachment kinetics between PAEs. Counterintuitively, simulations and theory show that at high salt concentrations (1 M NaCl), the energy barrier for crystal growth increases by over an order of magnitude compared to low concentration (0.3 M), resulting in a transition from interface-limited to diffusion-limited crystal growth a

SUBMITTER: Seo SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6346395 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature