Mechanical Response of DNA–Nanoparticle Crystals to Controlled Deformation

Journal Article · Wed Aug 17 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · ACS Central Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.6b00170· OSTI ID:1352578

Lequieu, Joshua ^[1]; Córdoba, Andrés ^[1]; Hinckley, Daniel ^[2]; de Pablo, Juan J. ^[3]

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1. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Institute for Molecular Engineering
2. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
3. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Institute for Molecular Engineering; Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division

The self-assembly of DNA-conjugated nanoparticles represents a promising avenue toward the design of engineered hierarchical materials. By using DNA to encode nanoscale interactions, macroscale crystals can be formed with mechanical properties that can, at least in principle, be tuned. Here we present in silico evidence that the mechanical response of these assemblies can indeed be controlled, and that subtle modifications of the linking DNA sequences can change the Young’s modulus from 97 kPa to 2.1 MPa. We rely on a detailed molecular model to quantify the energetics of DNA–nanoparticle assembly and demonstrate that the mechanical response is governed by entropic, rather than enthalpic, contributions and that the response of the entire network can be estimated from the elastic properties of an individual nanoparticle. The results here provide a first step toward the mechanical characterization of DNA–nanoparticle assemblies, and suggest the possibility of mechanical metamaterials constructed using DNA.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1352578
• Journal Information: ACS Central Science, Vol. 2, Issue 9; ISSN 2374-7943
• Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY