Issue 17, 2010

Bending dynamics of DNA-linked colloidal particle chains

Abstract

Colloidal particles and assemblies have proven to be useful models for analogous atomic and molecular systems. In this article, we present a colloidal worm-like chain (WLC) model using DNA -linked colloidal particle chains as an analogue to semiflexible linear polymers . The bending rigidity, or persistence length, of these chains can be determined by monitoring the thermal fluctuations of the chains. We show that the persistence lengths of the chains can be tuned from 1 to 50 mm which corresponds to a length-to-persistence length ratio of 0.002 to 0.1, by changing the length of the DNA used to link adjacent particles from 75 to 15 bases, respectively. We also studied the bending relaxation dynamics of these chains, which match well with theoretical predictions, further supporting the validity of using these colloidal chains as models for semiflexible polymer systems in both equilibrium and dynamic studies.

Graphical abstract: Bending dynamics of DNA-linked colloidal particle chains

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Mar 2010
Accepted
26 May 2010
First published
01 Jul 2010

Soft Matter, 2010,6, 4197-4204

Bending dynamics of DNA -linked colloidal particle chains

D. Li, S. Banon and S. L. Biswal, Soft Matter, 2010, 6, 4197 DOI: 10.1039/C0SM00159G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements