High precision and high yield fabrication of dense nanoparticle arrays onto DNA origami at statistically independent binding sites

• Published in: Nanoscale Vol. 6; no. 22; p. 13928
• Main Authors: Takabayashi, Sadao, Klein, William P, Onodera, Craig, Rapp, Blake, Flores-Estrada, Juan, Lindau, Elias, Snowball, Lejmarc, Sam, Joseph T, Padilla, Jennifer E, Lee, Jeunghoon, Knowlton, William B, Graugnard, Elton, Yurke, Bernard, Kuang, Wan, Hughes, William L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 21-11-2014
• Subjects: Binding Sites; DNA - chemistry; DNA - metabolism; Gold - chemistry; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Microarray Analysis - instrumentation; Microarray Analysis - statistics & numerical data; Microscopy, Atomic Force; Microtechnology - methods; Nanotechnology - methods; Nanotubes - chemistry; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Particle Size; Probability; Static Electricity; Surface Properties
• ISSN: 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/c4nr03069a

High precision, high yield, and high density self-assembly of nanoparticles into arrays is essential for nanophotonics. Spatial deviations as small as a few nanometers can alter the properties of near-field coupled optical nanostructures. Several studies have reported assemblies of few nanoparticle structures with controlled spacing using DNA nanostructures with variable yield. Here, we report multi-tether design strategies and attachment yields for homo- and hetero-nanoparticle arrays templated by DNA origami nanotubes. Nanoparticle attachment yield via DNA hybridization is comparable with streptavidin-biotin binding. Independent of the number of binding sites, >97% site-occupation was achieved with four tethers and 99.2% site-occupation is theoretically possible with five tethers. The interparticle distance was within 2 nm of all design specifications and the nanoparticle spatial deviations decreased with interparticle spacing. Modified geometric, binomial, and trinomial distributions indicate that site-bridging, steric hindrance, and electrostatic repulsion were not dominant barriers to self-assembly and both tethers and binding sites were statistically independent at high particle densities.