Coupling the self constructing capabilities of biological systems to material fabrication is an attractive strategy for nanofabrication. One method involves site-specific attachment of nanoscale materials, such as gold nanoparticles or nanorods, to a self-assembled DNA origami template. DNA origami structures are made with eight-nucleotide-long sticky ends protruding from specific sites on the structure to which complementary strands attached to nanomaterials can hybridize. Site-specific attachment is controlled by the location of sticky ends on certain areas of the DNA origami structure. Our group has focused on the attachment of gold nanoparticles and nanorods which, after attachment are plated via an electroless plating process, creating continuous wires. Our goal is to create linewidths of ~5-10 nm, which is limited by attachment density of and spacing between gold nanoparticles or nanorods. Optimal density is achieved as the gold materials are attached linearly with sub-5 nm gaps between particles. Current studies include examining various methods for functionalization gold nanoparticles and nanorods with single stranded DNA through a thiol linker, and working to optimize these procedures. We are also studying the effects of reaction times, the molar ratio of nanoparticles to DNA origami, and buffer composition using 2 nm nanoparticles and 3 nm x 10 nm gold nanorods as the attached material. Analysis of attachment density and gap size are performed using SEM. Following electroless plating to create wires, conductivity measurements will be obtained.  Optimized attachment of gold nanomaterials to DNA origami structures will provide a simple fabrication technique for not only nanowires, but for nanoelectronic fabrication as a whole.

Fabricating nanowires using site-specific attachment of gold nanoparticles and nanorods to DNA origami templates

251st National Meeting (2016)

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