Two-dimensional structures formed in a binary system of DNA nanoparticles with a short-range interaction potential

Abstract

Covering nanoparticles with DNA strands is one of the useful methods of controlling the interaction between particles because DNA strands can be easily designed according to our specifications. Obtaining an idea from the two-dimensional structures formed by the nanoparticles covered with DNA strands, which we call DNA nanoparticles, we carry out Brownian dynamics simulations and study the formation of two-dimensional structures in a binary system. We assume that the different types of particles attract each other with Morse potential, which is minimum when their distance is σ′. When the types of particles are the same and their distance is smaller than σ, the particles are repulsive. The mixture of both square and triangular lattices is formed when σ′/σ = 1. With decreasing σ′/σ, a square lattice, a honeycomb lattice, and string-shaped clusters are formed. The coexistence of both square and triangular lattices with large σ′/σ and the formation of stringlike clusters with small σ′/σ occur because we neglect the attraction between the same types of particles and use a short-range attraction between different types of particles.