Direct nanofabrication using DNA nanostructure

Abstract

Recent advances in DNA nanotechnology make it possible to fabricate arbitrarily shaped 1D, 2D, and 3D DNA nanostructures through controlled folding and/or hierarchical assembly of up to several thousands of unique sequenced DNA strands. Both individual DNA nanostructures and their assembly can be made with almost arbitrarily shaped patterns at a theoretical resolution down to 2 nm. Furthermore, the deposition of DNA nanostructures on a substrate can be made with precise control of their location and orientation, making them ideal templates for bottom-up nanofabrication. However, many fabrication processes require harsh conditions, such as corrosive chemicals and high temperatures. It still remains a challenge to overcome the limited stability of DNA nanostructures during the fabrication process. This chapter focuses on the proof-of-principle study to directly convert the structural information of DNA nanostructure to various kinds of materials by nanofabrication.