” We reveal that a person can configure particles to make tailored structures with tailored properties,” describes Jasna Brujic, a teacher in New York Universitys Department of Physics and one of the researchers. “While cranes, hammers, and drills must be managed by human beings in constructing buildings, this work reveals how one can use physics to make smart materials that understand how to assemble themselves.”
Researchers have long looked for a way for particles to self-assemble and have achieved advancements on lots of fronts. Less established are steps in which these tiny particles self-assemble with a preprogrammed number of bonds.
Upon heating, those bonds are broken, however upon cooling, the particle discovers 3 red partners once again, revealing that the particle picks the number of bonds it makes. Their result suggests that the DNA bonds between particles are reversible and rearrange on the particle surface to optimize valence.
To address this, Brujic and her coworkers, Angus McMullen, a postdoctoral researcher in NYUs Department of Physics, and Sascha Hilgenfeldt, a teacher of mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, ran a series of experiments to capture– and control– the habits of DNA molecules on particle surface areas.
Operating at a micron level– with particles 1/25th the size of a speck of dust– they submerged tiny droplets into a liquid option. Attached to these droplets were “DNA linkers”– molecular tools possessing “sticky ends” that enable mixing and matching to form a range of structures desired by the researchers.
” The beauty of this procedure is we can program the residential or commercial properties of a particular product, such that it might be elastic or fragile, and even have self-healing powers once broken, considering that the bonds can be made and broken reversibly,” observes Brujic. “Creators might decide to put in 5 particles that adhere to just one other one, 10 that stick to 2, and 20 that adhere to 3, or any other combination. This would permit you to build materials with particular geographies or architectures.”
Reference: “DNA self-organization controls valence in programmable colloid design” 2 November 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.DOI: 10.1073/ pnas.2112604118.
The work was supported by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF DMR-1420073, NSF PHY17-48958, and NSF DMR-1710163).
A team of physicists has discovered how DNA particles self-organize into adhesive patches between particles in response to assembly directions. Its findings use a “evidence of concept” for an ingenious method to produce products with a distinct connectivity in between the particles.
The work is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The video reveals that a blue particle at first binds to 3 red particles, pleasing its valence at space temperature. Upon heating, those bonds are broken, however upon cooling, the particle finds three red partners again, showing that the particle chooses the number of bonds it makes. Their result indicates that the DNA bonds in between particles are reversible and rearrange on the particle surface area to enhance valence.
