Materials World Network: Self-Assembled DNA Nanotubes: Biomimetic Design, Controlled Surface Alignment and Templated Nanowire Formation

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This Materials World Network project aims to develop various novel strategies to achieve control over self-assembled DNA nanotubes. A bio-mimetic self-assembly approach is taken to use DNA as programmable construction building block to engineer and develop novel nanostructured materials. The goals of this international collaboration are aimed at: 1) Mimicking nature's strong microtubule structure to design spiral DNA nanotubes that will have improved mechanical properties; 2) Developing surface alignment methods to assemble DNA nanotubes into two-dimensional networks, thereby bridging the bottom-up self-assembly with top-down lithographic approaches together; 3) Achieving improved DNA templated nanowire formation based on stronger mechanic properties of the DNA nanotubes and their alignment on surface. This project involves extensive collaboration between Arizona State University (Dr. Yan) in US and Dresden University of Technology (Dr. Mertig) in Germany.The intellectual merit of the project lies in that DNA nanotube templated nanowire or nanoparticle assembly provides unprecedented opportunities to explore electronics/magnetics/optical properties with novel annular geometries in nanoscale domains. The bio-inspired self-assembly may prove useful in creating computer chips with smaller feature sizes. The project has broader impact by: 1) Integrating the research results into the material research curriculum developments at both universities. Examples of such courses include "Molecular Bioengineering" at Dresden and "Nanobiotechnology" at ASU; 2) Teaching "Bio-mimetic Self-assembly" topics to high school students through a high school outreach program; 3) Disseminating cutting-edge material research knowledge to a wider audience of minority communities and encourage underrepresented students to pursue careers in science.This award is co-funded with the Office of International Science and Engineering.