Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3113, USA.
Nat Mater. 2010 Nov;9(11):913-7. doi: 10.1038/nmat2870. Epub 2010 Oct 3.
Directional bonding interactions in solid-state atomic lattices dictate the unique symmetries of atomic crystals, resulting in a diverse and complex assortment of three-dimensional structures that exhibit a wide variety of material properties. Methods to create analogous nanoparticle superlattices are beginning to be realized, but the concept of anisotropy is still largely underdeveloped in most particle assembly schemes. Some examples provide interesting methods to take advantage of anisotropic effects, but most are able to make only small clusters or lattices that are limited in crystallinity and especially in lattice parameter programmability. Anisotropic nanoparticles can be used to impart directional bonding interactions on the nanoscale, both through face-selective functionalization of the particle with recognition elements to introduce the concept of valency, and through anisotropic interactions resulting from particle shape. In this work, we examine the concept of inherent shape-directed crystallization in the context of DNA-mediated nanoparticle assembly. Importantly, we show how the anisotropy of these particles can be used to synthesize one-, two- and three-dimensional structures that cannot be made through the assembly of spherical particles.
固态原子晶格中的定向键相互作用决定了原子晶体的独特对称性，从而产生了多种多样的复杂三维结构，具有广泛的材料性能。目前已经开始探索制造类似的纳米粒子超晶格的方法，但各向异性的概念在大多数粒子组装方案中仍在很大程度上未得到充分发展。有些例子提供了有趣的方法来利用各向异性效应，但大多数方法只能制造出结晶度有限且晶格参数可编程性特别有限的小团簇或晶格。各向异性纳米粒子可用于在纳米尺度上赋予定向键相互作用，既可以通过对粒子进行面选择性功能化来引入价的概念，也可以通过粒子形状产生的各向异性相互作用。在这项工作中，我们研究了 DNA 介导的纳米粒子组装中固有形状导向结晶的概念。重要的是，我们展示了如何利用这些粒子的各向异性来合成一维、二维和三维结构，而这些结构是通过组装球形粒子无法实现的。
