Group leader Oleg Gang talks about the methods his group develops to direct the self-assembly of nanoscale systems from organic and inorganic components into functional materials with desired properties.
Approaches based on self-assembly offer tremendous advantages in nano-material fabrication and address tasks that are intrinsically difficult for conventional fabrication methods. However, one of the major challenges for self-assembly is an ability to arrange components of different types into rationally designed architectures, which is key to enabling many functions of nano-systems. Thus, it is a focal point of our efforts. Our research is focused on assembly of clusters and extended arrays (2D and 3D) from nanoscale components of multiple types driven by DNA recognition, chain effects and geometrical factors. Our work explores how bioencoding of nanoparticle can guide the formation of well-defined structures, how the morphology of those self-organized structures can be dynamically regulated, and what factors govern system’s phase behavior. Based on the expertise in assembly we also investigate optical and mechanical effects in systems containing precisely arranged nanoscale components; that allows rationalizing all aspects of nanomaterial fabrication.
C. Chi, F. Vargas-Lara, A. Tkachenko, F. W. Starr, and O. Gang “The Internal Structure of Nanoparticle Dimers Linked by DNA”, ACS Nano, 6 (8), 6793 (2012)
D. Sun and O. Gang “Heterogeneous 3D superlattices assembled from CdSe and Au particles” JACS, 33 (14), 5252 (2011)
Y. Zhang, F. Lu, D. van der Lelie and O. Gang, "Continuous Phase Transformations in NanoCube Assemblies, Phys. Rev. Letters 107, 135701 (2011)
H. Xiong, M. Sfeir, O. Gang “Multicomponent Superlattices with Dynamically Tunable Optical Responses” Nano Letters, 10, 3933 (2010)
M. M. Maye, K. Mudalidge, D. Nykypanchuk, W. Sherman, and O. Gang ”Molecularly Switchable Nanoparticle Superlattices and Clusters with Binary States” Nature Nanotechnology, 6, 116, (2010).
D. Nykypanchuk, M. M. Maye, D. van der Lelie, and O. Gang "DNA-guided crystallization of colloidal nanoparticles" Nature 451, 549 (2008) M. M.
Group leader Oleg Gang talks about the methods his group develops to direct the self-assembly of nanoscale systems from organic and inorganic components into functional materials with desired properties.