Materials design by DNA programmed self-assembly

DNA linker mediated self-assembly, i.e. grafting complementary sequences of single stranded DNA to nanoparticles in order to program their self-assembly, is a general and robust strategy for designing a completely new class of materials and metamaterials. In this paper, we first provide an overview of both experiment and theory on the subject, and then present new results based on a previously developed coarse-grained model. Particularly emphasis is made about the dynamics of self-assembly and the characterization of both the self-assembly process and crystallization. We also consider triblocks or diblock copolymers containing hydrophobic blocks and DNA linkers attached at their ends, and show that the phase diagram of these new materials can be predicted from existing theoretical results on functionalized polymer nanoparticle systems, leading to concrete predictions where nanoparticles can be programmed to order in bicontinuous (gyroids), columnar phases or lamellar catenoids among many others. We conclude with general considerations on the possibilities and limitations of current experimental systems as well as the implications of the results for the general field of polymer nanocomposite design.