Transformable nanophotonic surfaces: fusing synthetic biology with nano-engineering to create physically reconfigurable optical materials

纳米光子学是一个术语，用于描述光与具有纳米尺度尺寸的物体（通常是金属）的相互作用。利用这些相互作用，在这些亚微观水平上实现了前所未有的光学控制，为基于纳米光子结构的工程和组织解锁的独特物理学的大量新设备，材料和表面打开了大门。然而，当我们达到传统制造技术所能达到的极限时，如果我们要保持我们目前在这一领域的快速进展并开发未来的智能光学表面和设备，就需要开发用于组装纳米光子粒子的新技术。该项目的目的是在格拉斯哥大学工程学院，是介绍一种新的制造和操纵工具集的纳米光子学领域;一套基于合成生物学的工具，不仅能够使用生物相互作用组装纳米光子表面，而是使这些表面保持生物活性，使得它们可以响应于不同的分子线索而重新配置它们的纳米级几何形状。这项技术将通过融合传统的“自上而下”的光刻与可重构的“自下而上”的自组装方法，基于DNA纳米粒子与位点特异性重组酶的相互作用。通过用DNA选择性地图案化纳米光子表面，我们将能够通过所述酶的作用操纵单个金属纳米颗粒在该阵列内的放置;产生改变该表面的光学性质和输出的光子相互作用。添加特定的合成生物学机器和工具将使我们能够将这些纳米颗粒移除，交换或重新定位到表面上的其他特定工程点，从而引发新的光学响应。代表一种新的平台技术，用合成生物学增强纳米光子表面将开辟基于可重构纳米结构的材料研究和器件生成的新途径。

Nanophotonics is a term used to describe the interaction of light with objects (usually metals) that have nanometer scale dimensions. Harnessing these interactions has enabled an unprecedented degree of optical control at these sub-microscopic levels, opening the door to a raft of new devices, materials and surfaces based on the unique physics unlocked by the engineering and organisation of nanophotonic structures. However, as we are reaching the limit of what traditional fabrication techniques can achieve, there is the need to develop new techniques for the assembly nanophotonic particles if we are to maintain our current rapid progress in this area and develop the smart optical surfaces and devices of the future. The aim of this project, based at The University of Glasgow's School of Engineering, is to introduce a new fabrication and manipulation tool-set to the field of nanophotonics; a tool-set based on synthetic-biology which has the capability to not only assemble nanophotonic surfaces using biological interactions, but to have those surfaces remain biologically active such that they can reconfigure their nanoscale geometries in response to different molecular cues. This technology will be made possible by fusing traditional 'top-down' lithography with a reconfigurable 'bottom-up' self-assembly method based on interaction of DNA nanopatterns with site-specific recombination enzymes. By selectively patterning a nanophotonic surface with DNA we will be able to manipulate the placement of individual metallic nanoparticles within that array through the action of said enzymes; creating photonic interactions that alter the optical properties and output of that surface. The addition of particular synthetic biology machinery and tools will allow us to remove, swap or relocate these nanoparticles to other specifically engineered points on the surface, eliciting a new optical response. Representing a new platform technology, the augmentation of nanophotonic surfaces with synthetic biology to will open up new avenues of materials research and device generation based on reconfigurable nano-architectures.