Hierarchical Assembly of Plasmonic Nanostructures using Virus Capsid Scaffolds on DNA Origami Tiles

Journal Article · Mon Jul 07 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · ACS Nano, 8(8):7896-7904

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/nn5015819· OSTI ID:1171891

Wang, Debin; Capehart, Stacy L.; Pal, Suchetan; Liu, Minghui; Zhang, Lei; Schuck, P. J.; Liu, Yan; Yan, Hao; Francis, Matthew B.; De Yoreo, James J.

Plasmonic nanoarchitectures using biological scaffolds have shown the potential to attain controllable plasmonic fluorescence via precise spatial arrangement of fluorophores and plasmonic antennae. However, previous studies report a predominance of fluorescence quenching for small metal nanoparticles (less than ~60 nm) due to their small scattering cross-sections. In this work, we report the design and performance of fluorescent plasmonic structures composed of fluorophore-modified virus capsids and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) assembled on DNA origami tiles. The virus capsid creates a scaffold for control over the three dimensional arrangement of the fluorophores, whereas the DNA origami tile provides precise control over the distance between the capsid and the AuNP. Using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) numerical simulations and multimodal single-particle imaging measurements, we show that the judicial design of these structures places the dye molecules near the hot spot of the AuNP. This effectively increases the fluorescence intensity in the quenching regime of the AuNP, with an enhancement factor that increases with increasing AuNP size. This strategy of using biological scaffolds to control fluorescence paves the way for exploring the parameters that determine plasmonic fluorescence. It may lead to a better understanding of the antenna effects of photon absorption and emission, enabling the construction of multicomponent plasmonic systems.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1171891
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-98070; KC0302060
• Journal Information: ACS Nano, 8(8):7896-7904, Journal Name: ACS Nano, 8(8):7896-7904
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

DNA origami
plasmonics
virus capsids