A DNA-Based Methodology for Preparing Nanocluster Circuits, Arrays, and Diagnostic Materials
- PDF / 9,536,340 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 604.8 x 806.4 pts Page_size
- 29 Downloads / 170 Views
control the architecture of large structures on the nanometer-length scale. Of course, we m u s t be able to do this routinely before we can really explore this field in detail. The second important challenge is to determine the chemical and physical consequences of miniaturization, which is where the real science comes into play in nanotechnology. We already know that these consequences can be significant, and we have seen several examples involving semiconductor materials and quantum confinement effects. As the field evolves, we will see many more examples. Later in
I have always said, and still maintain today, that DNA is the quintessential building block for materials synthesis. this presentation, I will talk about one involving the distance-dependent optical properties of gold nanoparticles. Finally, if this field is going to be sustained, we ulti-
mately must be able to exploit the conse quences of miniaturization in developing new and useful types of technology. The two projects that I will discuss will touch on all three of these issues. The first project pertains to the development of biological-based methods for directing the assembly of nanoscale inorganic building blocks into functional materials. 1 - 7 Specifically, our goal is to learn how to control the nanoscale archi tecture of extended materials by using DNA as a synthetically programmable assembler. The second project involves the development of a new tool for making molecule-based patterns with sub100-nm resolution. We have developed a new type of soft lithography that allows one to routinely prepare one-moleculethick structures with 15-nm linewidth resolution. These projects are highly complementary and are leading to a gen eral way of building and manipulating, in a rational manner, two- and threedimensional nanostructured materials.
Biomolecular Building Blocks In the area of biomolecular building blocks, we are developing methods for functionalizing small inorganic building blocks with DNA and then using the molecular recognition properties associated with DNA to guide the assembly of those particles or building blocks into extended structures. Our aim is to be able to control the chemical composirion of the particles, the size of the particles, the distance b e t w e e n the particles, and the strength of the interactions between the particles in the resulting nanostructured materials. Why? If we can do this, we can, in principle, control all the important properties of the resulting structures. The first topic can be illustrated by this analogy: DNA is like a bricklayer, doing the assembly work, and it also acts as the mortar holding everything together in the extended structures that we generate; the particles are the bricks or building blocks that impart physical properties into the r e s u l t i n g s t r u c t u r e . A l t h o u g h DNA arguably is the most adaptable and versatile molecule for organizing nanoscale materials into extended structures, it has some limitations. Most notably, it is not a high-temperature material; the
Data Loading...
