A rotary plasmonic nanoclock

TL;DR

This paper presents a DNA-assembled rotary plasmonic nanoclock capable of 360-degree reversible rotation among 16 configurations, monitored in real time, advancing nanophotonic device control and programmability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel DNA-based nanoclock with full rotational control and autonomous operation, surpassing previous reconfiguration limitations.

Findings

Achieved directional, reversible 360-degree rotation with 16 configurations.

Real-time optical monitoring of the full-turn rotation process.

Demonstrated autonomous rotation powered by DNAzyme-RNA interactions.

Abstract

One of the fundamental challenges in nanophotonics is to gain full control over nanoscale optical elements. The precise spatiotemporal arrangement determines their interactions and collective behavior. To this end, DNA nanotechnology is employed as an unprecedented tool to create nanophotonic devices with excellent spatial addressability and temporal programmability. However, most of the current DNA-assembled nanophotonic devices can only reconfigure among random or very few defined states. Here, we demonstrate a DNA-assembled rotary plasmonic nanoclock. In this system, a rotor gold nanorod can carry out directional and reversible 360 degree rotation with respect to a stator gold nanorod, transitioning among 16 well-defined configurations powered by DNA fuels. The full-turn rotation process is monitored by optical spectroscopy in real time. We further demonstrate autonomous rotation of the plasmonic nanoclock powered by DNAzyme-RNA interactions. Such assembly approaches pave a viable route towards advanced nanophotonic systems entirely from the bottom-up.