Driving diffusionless transformations in colloidal crystals using DNA handshaking

Many crystals, such as those of metals, can transform from one symmetry into another having lower free energy via a diffusionless transformation. Here we create binary colloidal crystals consisting of polymer microspheres, pulled together by DNA bridges, that induce specific, reversible attractions...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2012-11, Vol.3 (1), p.1209-1209, Article 1209
Main Authors: Casey, Marie T., Scarlett, Raynaldo T., Benjamin Rogers, W., Jenkins, Ian, Sinno, Talid, Crocker, John C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/357
639/301/923/916
639/301/923/966
Colloids - chemistry
Computer Simulation
Crystallization - methods
Crystallography, X-Ray
Diffusion
DNA - chemistry
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Optical Imaging
Phase Transition
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Thermodynamics
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Summary:Many crystals, such as those of metals, can transform from one symmetry into another having lower free energy via a diffusionless transformation. Here we create binary colloidal crystals consisting of polymer microspheres, pulled together by DNA bridges, that induce specific, reversible attractions between two species of microspheres. Depending on the relative strength of the different interactions, the suspensions spontaneously form either compositionally ordered crystals with CsCl and CuAu-I symmetries, or disordered, solid solution crystals when slowly cooled. Our observations indicate that the CuAu-I crystals form from CsCl parent crystals by a diffusionless transformation, analogous to the Martensitic transformation of iron. Detailed simulations confirm that CuAu-I is not kinetically accessible by direct nucleation from the fluid, but does have a lower free energy than CsCl. The ease with which such structural transformations occur suggests new ways of creating unique metamaterials having structures that may be otherwise kinetically inaccessible. Crystalline material may be stabilized by complementary DNA interactions but its subsequent capacity for structural transformation is poorly understood. Here, by tuning the DNA handshaking between two sets of nanoparticles, a Martensitic transformation within the binary colloidal crystals is observed.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms2206