Method could lead to rapid, reliable assembly of new biosensors and solar cells
UPTON, NY - Building on the idea of using DNA to link up nanoparticles - particles measuring mere billionths of a meter - scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have designed a molecular assembly line for predictable, high-precision nano-construction. Such reliable, reproducible nanofabrication is essential for exploiting the unique properties of nanoparticles in applications such as biological sensors and devices for converting sunlight to electricity. The work will be published online March 29, 2009, by Nature Materials.
The Brookhaven team has previously used DNA, the molecule that carries life's genetic code, to link up nanoparticles in various arrangements, including 3-D nano-crystals.
The idea is that nanoparticles coated with complementary strands of DNA - segments of genetic code sequence that bind only with one another like highly specific Velcro - help the nanoparticles find and stick to one another in highly specific ways. By varying the use of complementary DNA and strands that don't match, scientists can exert precision control over the attractive and repulsive forces between the nanoparticles to achieve the desired construction. Note that the short DNA linker strands used in these studies were constructed artificially in the laboratory and don't "code" for any proteins, as genes do.
For example, in the paper, the scientists describe an optical effect that occurs when nanoparticles are linked as dimer clusters. When an electromagnetic field interacts with the metallic particles, it induces a collective oscillation of the material's conductive electrons. This phenomenon, known as a plasmon resonance, leads to strong absorption of light at a specific wavelength.
"The size and distance between the linked particles affect the plasmonic behavior," said Gang. By adjusting these parameters, scientists might engineer clusters for absorbing a range of wavelengths in solar-energy conversion devices. Modulations in the plasmonic response could also be useful as a new means for transferring data, or as a signal for a new class of highly specific biosensors.
Asymmetric clusters, which were also assembled by the Brookhaven team, allow an even higher level of control, and therefore open new ways to design and engineer functional nanomaterials. ###
Because of its reliability and precision control, Brookhaven's nano-assembly method would be scalable for the kind of high-throughput production that would be essential for commercial applications. Brookhaven Lab has applied for a patent on the assembly method as well as several specific applications of the technology. For information about the patent or licensing this technology, contact Kimberley Elcess at (631) 344-4151, or elcess@bnl.gov.
In addition to Gang, the team included materials scientist Dmytro Nykypanchuk, summer student Marine Cuisinier, and biologist Daniel (Niels) van der Lelie, all from Brookhaven, and former Brookhaven chemist Matthew Maye, now at Syracuse University. Their work was funded by DOE's Office of Science and through a Goldhaber Distinguished Fellowship sponsored by Brookhaven Science Associates.
The Center for Functional Nanomaterials at BNL is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs), premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize, and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE's Brookhaven, Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, and Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit http://nano.energy.gov.
Related Links
DNA Technique Yields 3-D Crystalline Organization of Nanoparticles, 1/30/2008:
www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display
New DNA-Based Technique For Assembly of Nano- and Micro-sized Particles, 9/12/2007:
www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display
Nanoparticle Assembly Enters the Fast Lane, 10/11/2006:
www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display
One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation of State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.
Visit Brookhaven Lab's electronic newsroom for links, news archives, graphics, and more: www.bnl.gov/newsroom
Contact: Karen McNulty Walsh kmcnulty@bnl.gov 631-344-8350 DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory
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