Tuning gold nanoparticles plasmonic properties by DNA nanotechnology

Abstract

The engineering of the optical and plasmonic properties of metallic nanostructure is one of the key ingredients for the complete control of materials at the nanoscale. Here we show how it is possible to control the plasmonic resonance of complex architectures of gold nanoparticles using the peculiar properties of DNA Watson and Crick pairing rules. In this chapter, we will first introduce all the steps required to generate, purify, and characterize DNA nanostructures, then we will guide the reader to the main steps required to decorate them with a precise amount of gold nanoparticles and, finally, we will describe the main approach used to characterize their plasmonic response.