Diamond glitter: a play of colors with artificial DNA crystals

Amazing stuff!

"With this method, they have created a new approach for manufacturing semiconductors for visible light

The new photonic crystals could play an important role for applications in data processing, energy harvesting, and quantum technology

The shimmering of butterfly wings in bright colors does not emerge from pigments. Rather, it is photonic crystals that are responsible for this play of light. Their periodic nanostructure allows light at certain wavelengths to pass through while reflecting other wavelengths. This causes the wing scales, which are in fact transparent, to appear so magnificently colored. Artificially manufactured photonic crystals allow the development of “solar cells with higher efficiency, innovative optical waveguides, and materials for quantum communication. ..."

From the perspective's abstract:

"Engineering crystalline materials by molecular design has led to numerous technological and scientific advancements in medicine, catalysis, optics, and electronics. Colloidal crystals are often considered to be the structural analogs of molecular crystals, wherein microscopic particles rather than molecules are arranged into highly ordered architectures. Despite substantial progress, engineering colloidal crystals with precise structures and properties remains a challenging task, especially when compared to the level of control achieved in molecular crystals. On page 781 and 776 of this issue, Posnjak et al. (6) and Liu et al., respectively, report the design of DNA molecules that are engineered to self-assemble across multiple length scales into colloidal crystals with unprecedented control and programmability. This advance opens up tremendous engineering opportunities for creating new crystalline materials in optics, sensing, and separation applications."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Diamond lattices can generate a complete three-dimensional photonic band gap, but generally have been fabricated by lithography and exhibit infrared and near-infrared band gaps. Two studies now report DNA templating of lattices on a length scale that can create photonic band gaps at optical wavelengths (see the Perspective by Li and Mao). Posnjak et al. designed DNA origami that self-assembled into diamond lattices with a periodicity of 170 nanometers. After coating the surfaces with a high-dielectric material (titanium dioxide), a reflection corresponding to the photonic band gap was seen in the near ultraviolet. Liu et al. developed an inverse design strategy for creating pyrochlore lattices that can exhibit a large and omnidirectional band gap. This approach, which uses octahedral and icosahedral origami, avoids the formation of traps that interfere with the assembly process ...

Abstract

Colloidal self-assembly allows rational design of structures on the micrometer and submicrometer scale. One architecture that can generate complete three-dimensional photonic bandgaps is the diamond cubic lattice, which has remained difficult to realize at length scales comparable with the wavelength of visible or ultraviolet light. In this work, we demonstrate three-dimensional photonic crystals self-assembled from DNA origami that act as precisely programmable patchy colloids. Our DNA-based nanoscale tetrapods crystallize into a rod-connected diamond cubic lattice with a periodicity of 170 nanometers. This structure serves as a scaffold for atomic-layer deposition of high–refractive index materials such as titanium dioxide, yielding a tunable photonic bandgap in the near-ultraviolet."

Diamond glitter: a play of colors with artificial DNA c … - LMU Munich Using DNA origami, researchers have built a diamond lattice with a periodicity of hundreds of nanometers.

Engineering colloidal crystals molecule by molecule (no public access) DNA particles are programmed to assemble with precision into complex lattices

Diamond-lattice photonic crystals assembled from DNA origami (no public access)

Diamond photonic crystals assembled from DNA origami (open access, preprint)

Credits: Revolution für die Halbleiter-Forschung durch DNA-Origami, Using DNA origami, researchers create diamond lattice for future semiconductors of visible light

Diamond crystals made from DNA, electron microscope image, color-enhanced