Issue 48, 2012
From the journal:

Soft Matter

Dynamics of DNA-programmable nanoparticlecrystallization: gelation, nucleation and topological defects†

Christopher Knorowski*a  and  Alex Travesseta  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
E-mail: cdknorow@iastate.edu, trvsst@ameslab.gov

Abstract

DNA programmed nanoparticle self-assembly is emerging as a powerful technique to engineer novel materials. In this paper, we present a comprehensive characterization of the dynamics of DNA mediated nanoparticle superlattice self-assembly from numerical simulations. We show that crystallization is consistent with classical nucleation theory, where the supercooled phase is a gel and the internal energy of the system remains constant during crystallization. After crystallization occurs, equilibrium is reached only after substitutionals, the most common topological defects, are annihilated in a process that involves vacancies or interstitials. Implications for existing and future experiments, as well as for engineering high quality, even single crystal, superlattices are also discussed.

Graphical abstract: Dynamics of DNA-programmable nanoparticle crystallization: gelation, nucleation and topological defects

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C2SM26832A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Aug 2012
Accepted
01 Oct 2012
First published
10 Oct 2012

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 12053-12059

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Dynamics of DNA-programmable nanoparticle crystallization: gelation, nucleation and topological defects

C. Knorowski and A. Travesset, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 12053 DOI: 10.1039/C2SM26832A

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