Casting inorganic structures with DNA molds

We report a general strategy for designing and synthesizing inorganic nanostructures with arbitrarily prescribed three-dimensional shapes. Computationally designed DNA strands self-assemble into a stiff “nanomold” that contains a user-specified three-dimensional cavity and encloses a nucleating gold “seed.” Under mild conditions, this seed grows into a larger cast structure that fills and thus replicates the cavity. We synthesized a variety of nanoparticles with 3-nanometer resolution: three distinct silver cuboids with three independently tunable dimensions, silver and gold nanoparticles with diverse cross sections, and composite structures with homo- and heterogeneous components. The designer equilateral silver triangular and spherical nanoparticles exhibited plasmonic properties consistent with electromagnetism-based simulations. Our framework is generalizable to more complex geometries and diverse inorganic materials, offering a range of applications in biosensing, photonics, and nanoelectronics.United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (Grant N000141310664)United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (Grant N000141210621)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future Program (Grant CMMI1334109