Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy.
J Chem Phys. 2022 Oct 7;157(13):135101. doi: 10.1063/5.0117047.
We experimentally investigate the equilibrium gel formation in a binary mixture of DNA nanostars. The binding rules, encoded in the DNA sequence of the nanostar binding ends, are such that each component is able to form only intra-species bonds. Reducing the excluded volume by properly designing the DNA nanostars, we show that two interpenetrating unconnected gels form in the sample on cooling, each of the two forms at a temperature controlled by the selected binding DNA sequence. The dynamic light scattering correlation functions show a non-common three-step relaxation process due to the splitting of the slow relaxation into two distinct decays, each of them reflecting the relaxation dynamics of one of the two networks.
我们通过实验研究了 DNA 纳米星二元混合物中的平衡凝胶形成。纳米星结合末端的 DNA 序列中编码的结合规则是，每个组分只能形成同种内键。通过适当设计 DNA 纳米星来减小排除体积，我们表明在冷却时样品中会形成两个相互贯穿但不连接的凝胶，两种形式的形成温度由所选的结合 DNA 序列控制。动态光散射相关函数显示出非共同的三步弛豫过程，这是由于将慢弛豫分裂成两个不同的衰减，每个衰减都反映了两个网络中一个网络的弛豫动力学。
