Assembly of tetrahedral gold nanoclusters from binary colloidal mixtures

ORAL

Abstract

We experimentally investigate the structures that form when colloidal gold nanospheres cluster around smaller spheres. We use nanoparticles coated with complementary DNA sequences to assemble the clusters, and we observe them under electron microscopy. Previous experiments using polystyrene microspheres indicate that a 90\% yield of tetrahedral clusters is possible near a critical diameter ratio; random sphere parking serves as a useful model for understanding this phenomenon. Here we examine how this approach can be scaled down by an order of magnitude in size, using gold building blocks. We study how this method can be used to assemble tetrahedral plasmonic resonators in order to create a bulk, isotropic, optical metamaterial.

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Authors

  • Nicholas B. Schade

    Harvard University

  • Dazhi ``Peter'' Sun

    Brookhaven National Laboratory

  • Miranda Holmes-Cerfon

    Harvard University, New York University, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

  • Elizabeth R. Chen

    School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Harvard University

  • Emily W. Gehrels

    Harvard University

  • Jonathan A. Fan

    Harvard University

  • Oleg Gang

    Brookhaven National Laboratory

  • Vinothan N. Manoharan

    School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, Harvard SEAS and Physics, Harvard University, Physics Department and SEAS Harvard University, Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Department of Physics, Harvard, Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Dept. of Physics