Optical control of hierarchical DNA-functionalized nanoparticle self-assembly on 2D surfaces

¹ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Abdullah Gül University, Kayseri, Turkey
² Department of Electrical-Electronics Engineering, Abdullah Gül University, Kayseri 38080 Turkey
³ Department of Nanotechnology Engineering, Abdullah Gül University, Kayseri 38080 Turkey
^{^} Equal contribution

^* Corresponding author: erdem.talha@agu.edu.tr

Published online: 18 October 2023

Abstract

We investigated the effect of light on the DNA-driven self-assembly to form hierarchical patterns on two dimensional surfaces. We specifically focused on the self-assembly of DNA-functionalized quantum dots (QDs) onto DNA-functionalized glass substrate while illuminating the surface with a laser during coating process. The region illuminated with a green laser remained uncoated with red-emitting QDs while the not-illuminated region was successfully coated. Next, a red laser whose light cannot be absorbed by the red-emitting QDs did not avoid the DNA-driven self-assembly of the QDs onto glass substrate. Additionally, we demonstrated that silica nanoparticles that had been functionalized with DNA and are not able to absorb the light in the visible regime were again coated on the surface while being exposed to a green laser. These results prove that the absorption of the light is responsible for controlling the binding-unbinding process of QDs. Finally, we added DNA-functionalized green-emitting QDs onto the area that was not coated with red-emitting QDs under the green laser exposure. We observed successful coating of previously uncoated regions with the green QDs. This revealed the viability of our technique for building up hierarchical structures without using, sophisticated, or resource-intensive microfabrication methods.