This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2021
Please use the identifier:
http://hdl.handle.net/2128/29428 in citations.
Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27412-3 in citations.
Self assembling cluster crystals from DNA based dendritic nanostructures
Self assembling cluster crystals from DNA based dendritic nanostructures
Cluster crystals are periodic structures with lattice sites occupied by several, overlapping building blocks, featuring fluctuating site occupancy, whose expectation value depends on thermodynamic conditions. Their assembly from atomic or mesoscopic units is long-sought-after, but its experimental r...
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Personal Name(s): | Stiakakis, Emmanuel (Corresponding author) |
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Jung, Niklas / Adžić, Nataša / Balandin, Taras / Kentzinger, Emmanuel / Rücker, Ulrich / Biehl, Ralf / Dhont, Jan K. G. / Jonas, Ulrich / Likos, Christos N. | |
Contributing Institute: |
Streumethoden; JCNS-2 Strukturbiochemie; IBI-7 Biomakromolekulare Systeme und Prozesse; IBI-4 Neutronenstreuung; JCNS-1 High Brilliance Source; JCNS-HBS JARA-FIT; JARA-FIT Streumethoden; PGI-4 |
Published in: | Nature Communications, 12 (2021) 1, S. 7167 |
Imprint: |
[London]
Nature Publishing Group UK
2021
|
DOI: |
10.1038/s41467-021-27412-3 |
Document Type: |
Journal Article |
Research Program: |
Jülich Centre for Neutron Research (JCNS) (FZJ) Materials – Quantum, Complex and Functional Materials |
Link: |
Get full text OpenAccess |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27412-3 in citations.
Cluster crystals are periodic structures with lattice sites occupied by several, overlapping building blocks, featuring fluctuating site occupancy, whose expectation value depends on thermodynamic conditions. Their assembly from atomic or mesoscopic units is long-sought-after, but its experimental realization still remains elusive. Here, we show the existence of well-controlled soft matter cluster crystals. We fabricate dendritic-linear-dendritic triblock composed of a thermosensitive water-soluble polymer and nanometer-scale all-DNA dendrons of the first and second generation. Conclusive small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) evidence reveals that solutions of these triblock at sufficiently high concentrations undergo a reversible phase transition from a cluster fluid to a body-centered cubic (BCC) cluster crystal with density-independent lattice spacing, through alteration of temperature. Moreover, a rich concentration-temperature phase diagram demonstrates the emergence of various ordered nanostructures, including BCC cluster crystals, birefringent cluster crystals, as well as hexagonal phases and cluster glass-like kinetically arrested states at high densities. |