Molecular engineering of chiral colloidal liquid crystals using DNA origami

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how DNA origami can be used to precisely engineer chiral colloidal liquid crystals and related structures, linking microscopic design to macroscopic properties for advanced material development.

Contribution

It introduces a method for assembling DNA origami filaments into various liquid crystal phases, establishing a quantitative relationship between microscopic structure and macroscopic properties.

Findings

Controlled assembly of DNA origami into cholesteric liquid crystals.

Tunable elastic properties of supramolecular twisted ribbons.

Potential for designing advanced soft materials with specific optical and mechanical features.

Abstract

Establishing precise control over the shape and the interactions of the microscopic building blocks is essential for design of macroscopic soft materials with novel structural, optical and mechanical properties. Here, we demonstrate robust assembly of DNA origami filaments into cholesteric liquid crystals, 1D supramolecular twisted ribbons and 2D colloidal membranes. The exquisite control afforded by the DNA origami technology establishes a quantitative relationship between the microscopic filament structure and the macroscopic cholesteric pitch. Furthermore, it also enables robust assembly of 1D twisted ribbons, which behave as effective supramolecular polymers whose structure and elastic properties can be precisely tuned by controlling the geometry of the elemental building blocks. Our results demonstrate the potential synergy between DNA origami technology and colloidal science, in which the former allows for rapid and robust synthesis of complex particles, and the latter can be used to assemble such particles into bulk materials.