Self-Assembled Active Plasmonic Waveguide with a Peptide-Based Thermomechanical Switch

Abstract

Nanoscale plasmonic waveguides composed of metallic nanoparticles are capable of guiding electromagnetic energy below the optical diffraction limit. Signal feed-in and readout typically require the utilization of electronic effects or near-field optical techniques, whereas for their fabrication mainly lithographic methods are employed. Here we developed a switchable plasmonic waveguide assembled from gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on a DNA origami structure that facilitates a simple spectroscopic excitation and readout. The waveguide is specifically excited at one end by a fluorescent dye, and energy transfer is detected at the other end via the fluorescence of a second dye. The transfer distance is beyond the multicolor FRET range and below the Abbé limit. The transmittance of the waveguide can also be reversibly switched by changing the position of a AuNP within the waveguide, which is tethered to the origami platform by a thermoresponsive peptide. High-yield fabrication of the plasmonic waveguides in bulk was achieved using silica particles as solid supports. Our findings enable bulk solution applications for plasmonic waveguides as light-focusing and light-polarizing elements below the diffraction limit.

Create Nanoscale Patterns with DNA Origami

“…F) Reconfigurable plasmonic waveguide. Reproduced with permission . Copyright 2016, American Chemical Society.…”

“…Besides the above‐mentioned dynamic origami assemblies in which DNA origami structures drive the conformation change of plasmonic systems, another type of dynamic plasmonic system is based on static DNA origami template . In such system, DNA origami only serves as template and keeps static while plasmonic system is triggered by other means.…”

“…Liu and co‐workers reported a plasmonic walker system in which two nanorods walked on a static DNA origami structure (Figure E). Vogele et al developed a switchable plasmonic waveguide . Plasmonic waveguide involves energy transfer over long distance and beyond the multicolor FRET range.…”

Shaping Metallic Nanolattices: Design by Microcontact Printing from Wrinkled Stamps

“…Such properties can render these structures suitable candidates for sophisticated further applications, which comprise, e.g., the fields of biosensing, [ 7–9 ] information storage, [ 10,11 ] or optoelectronics. [ 12–14 ] Thereby, templating by surface patterns represents a popular method to obtain fine metallic nanostructures. Different types of advanced lithographic techniques have been utilized to fabricate functional surface patterns, such as photo‐, [ 15,16 ] electron‐beam or dip‐pen lithography, [ 6,17–20 ] self‐assembly patterns (SAPs) of (macro‐)molecules, [ 21–24 ] soft lithography and others.…”

Periodic Operation of a Dynamic DNA Origami Structure Utilizing the Hydrophilic–Hydrophobic Phase‐Transition of Stimulus‐Sensitive Polypeptides

“…The stimuli and energy sources for the operation of such devices can be quite diverse, for instance, DNA strand displacement processes, binding of biomolecules through aptamers, environmental changes (e.g., changes in salt concentrations or physical stimuli such as temperature), or electric and magnetic fields . In many cases, “switchability” has been introduced by appropriate chemical modifications of the devices.…”