Collaborative Research: Photonic and Electronic Devices Based on Self-Assembling DNA Templates

AbstractNon-Technical：该项目的主要目标是开发可靠的，生物启发的分子组装协议和材料，用于制造功能性光子（光活性）和电子（电子活性）器件。具有纳米尺度尺寸的生物结构能够利用分子识别原理进行自组装，这些原理现在可以用于生产技术上有用的材料，物体和设备。模仿生物纳米级组装策略的制造技术有望通过减少对日益昂贵的光刻制造设备和设施的需求，减少对有毒稀土元素的依赖，并提高生产和操作计算和通信设备的能源效率，从而改变现代电子制造业。除了推进对未来设备制造过程至关重要的科学和工程问题外，该项目还将为本科生、研究生和高中生提供教育和研究培训机会。该项目将培养学生在现代纳米技术的生物化学和物理方法的独特组合，是相关的工业和学术生涯。通过项目种子（夏季教育经验的dispenser），来自贫困经济背景的高中生将在夏季参加实验室研究，以熟悉纳米科学的新兴领域。项目协调员将继续积极招募在科学-技术-工程-数学（STEM）学科中代表性不足的人口群体的参与者。技术：这个为期三年的项目的具体目标包括：1）通过在DNA折纸上模板化金属纳米颗粒来开发用于显著增强拉曼散射信号的金属簇，然后使用这些拉曼-布莱特簇作为光子器件，用于在细胞分选期间标记和跟踪特定的细胞类型; 2）新的原型四面体折纸用于功能性3D金属簇组装，包括单电子晶体管和手性等离子体器件;和3）制造和测试用于光子器件的更大的定向螺旋结构的51个DNA折叠。自下而上制造的自组装系统的发展一直是纳米技术的一个长期追求的目标。该项目的特别优点源于基于DNA的自组装方法的最新进展与等离子体耦合金属纳米粒子簇的新理解的融合，用于广泛的光电应用。该项目的智力价值还来自跨学科合作，将生物化学家和物理学家耦合到一个富有成效的团队中，并具有成功的科学研究和教育活动的历史。该项目将导致开发替代的，更便宜的（大多数步骤是在水溶液中）和更通用的复合生物纳米器件制造方法。这些纳米结构可能是有用的，在生物医学应用中具有很强的潜力的天然生物相容性设备的发展。这项研究的结果可能会对一系列应用产生重大影响，包括尺寸、重量、功耗和发热量降低的电子设备，用于移动的传感和普适计算。

AbstractNon-Technical:The major goal of this project is the development of reliable, bioinspired, molecular assembly protocols and materials for fabricating functional photonic (light-active) and electronic (electron-active) devices. Biological structures with nanometer-scale dimensions are able to self-assemble using principles of molecular recognition, principles that can now be harnessed for production of technologically useful materials, objects, and devices. Fabrication techniques that mimic biological nanometer-scale assembly strategies promise to transform modern electronics manufacturing by reducing the need for increasingly expensive lithographic fabrication equipment and facilities, decreasing reliance on toxic, rare-earth elements, and increasing the energy efficiency of producing and operating computational and communications devices. Besides advancing science and engineering issues critical to future device manufacturing processes, this project will provide educational and research training opportunities for students at the undergraduate, post-graduate and high school levels. This project will train students in the unique combination of biochemical and physical methods of modern nanotechnology that are relevant for industrial and academic careers. Through Project SEED (Summer Educational Experience for the Disadvantaged), high school students from disadvantaged economic backgrounds will participate in laboratory research during the summer months to become acquainted with the emerging field of nanoscience. The project coordinators will continue to actively recruit participants from demographic groups typically under-represented in the science-technology-engineering-mathematical (STEM) disciplines.Technical:Specific objectives of this three year project include: 1) development of metallic clusters for significant enhancement of Raman scattering signals by templating metal nanoparticles on DNA origami, then using these Raman-bright clusters as photonic devices for tagging and tracking specific cell-types during cell-sorting; 2) application of newly prototyped tetrahedral origami for functional 3D metal cluster assemblies including single electron transistors and chiral plasmonic devices; and 3) fabrication and testing of a 51 kilobase DNA origami for larger, oriented helical structures for photonic devices. Development of self-assembling systems for bottom-up fabrication has been a long sought-after goal of nanotechnology. The particular merit of this project stems from the convergence of recent advances in DNA-based self-assembly methods with new understanding of plasmonically coupled metal nanoparticle clusters for a wide range of optoelectronic applications. Intellectual merit of the project also derives from the interdisciplinary collaboration that couples a biochemist and a physicist on a productive team with a history of successful scientific research and educational activities. The project will lead to development of alternative, cheaper (most steps are in aqueous solution) and more versatile fabrication methods for composite bio-nano-devices. These nanostructures may be useful in the development of naturally biocompatible devices with strong potential for use in biomedical applications. Results from this study may provide major impacts to a range of applications, including electronic devices with decreased size, weight, power consumption, and heat generation for mobile sensing and ubiquitous computing.