Discovery of and Insights into DNA “Codes” for Tunable Morphologies of Metal Nanoparticles

Abstract

The discovery and elucidation of genetic codes has profoundly changed not only biology but also many fields of science and engineering. The fundamental building blocks of life comprises of four simple deoxyribonucleotides and yet their combinations serve as the carrier of genetic information that encodes for proteins that can carry out many biological functions due to their unique functionalities. Inspired by nature, the functionalities of DNA molecules have been used as a capping ligand for controlling morphology of nanomaterials, and such a control is sequence dependent, which translates into distinct physical and chemical properties of resulting nanoparticles. Herein, an overview on the use of DNA as engineered codes for controlling the morphology of metal nanoparticles, such as gold, silver, and Pd‐Au bimetallic nanoparticles is provided. Fundamental insights into rules governing DNA controlled growth mechanisms are also summarized, based on understanding of the affinity of the DNA nucleobases to various metals, the effect of combination of nucleobases, functional modification of DNA, the secondary structures of DNA, and the properties of the seed employed. The resulting physical and chemical properties of these DNA encoded nanomaterials are also reviewed, while perspectives into the future directions of DNA‐mediated nanoparticle synthesis are provided.

Regulating Catalytic Activity of DNA‐Templated Silver Nanoclusters Based on their Differential Interactions with DNA Structures and Stimuli‐Responsive Structural Transition

“…Accordingly, diverse DNA‐encoded nanomaterials with different controlled shapes, morphologies, and properties were synthesized. [ 12–15 ] Functionalization and assembling of nanoparticles were attained on the basis of the high affinity of DNAs to metal nanointerfaces. [ 16–19 ] Fan group demonstrated poly adenine (polyA) was able to bind to GNPs with high affinity and can act as an effective anchoring group for facile preparation of DNA‐GNP conjugates.…”

Prominence of the Instability of a Stabilizing Agent in the Changes in Physical State of a Hybrid Nanomaterial

“…Stabilizing agents (SAs) used for the preparation of nanoparticles in solution are of tremendous importance for the control of their size and shape [1–7] as well as for their colloidal stability [8–11] . Their role on the nanomaterial's properties is also established for magnetic, [8,12] optical, [13–15] thermoelectric, [16] catalytic properties, [17–21] and biocompatibility [22–24] .…”

One-Step, DNA-Programmed, and Flash Synthesis of Anisotropic Noble Metal Nanostructures on MXene

“…It is well noted that ssDNA can be absorbed onto the gold surface in a sequence-dependent manner. Based on previous studies, dA (adenine), dC (cytosine), and dG (guanine) showed a much stronger binding affinity to gold surfaces than dT (thymine) . This property has been implemented to synthesize varied DNA-templated gold nanostructures or in DNA-based applications.…”

“…Based on previous studies, dA (adenine), dC (cytosine), and dG (guanine) showed a much stronger binding affinity to gold surfaces than dT (thymine). 34 This property has been implemented to synthesize varied DNA-templated gold nanostructures or in DNA-based applications. However, DNA-mediated morphological control of different types of ANPs on 2D materials in the absence of seeds has not been studied.…”