Exploring the zone of anisotropy and broken symmetries in DNA-mediated nanoparticle crystallization.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208; International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208;

Published: September 2016

In this work, we present a joint experimental and molecular dynamics simulations effort to understand and map the crystallization behavior of polyhedral nanoparticles assembled via the interaction of DNA surface ligands. In these systems, we systematically investigated the interplay between the effects of particle core (via the particle symmetry and particle size) and ligands (via the ligand length) on crystallization behavior. This investigation revealed rich phase diagrams, previously unobserved phase transitions in polyhedral crystallization behavior, and an unexpected symmetry breaking in the ligand distribution on a particle surface. To understand these results, we introduce the concept of a zone of anisotropy, or the portion of the phase space where the anisotropy of the particle is preserved in the crystallization behavior. Through comparison of the zone of anisotropy for each particle we develop a foundational roadmap to guide future investigations.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5035876PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611808113DOI Listing

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