The structure resembles rosettes in concentric circles, formed by 10-sided shapes, creating 12-fold symmetry in stacked layers, called an axial quasicrystal.A mathematical tool called a fast Fourier transform maps the structure in a way that reveals the 12-fold symmetry of the quasicrystal.
They strived to achieve this by utilizing DNA as a programmable glue to assemble nanoparticles into a specific 10-sided pentagonal bipyramid shape called a decahedron. Unlike typical axial quasicrystals, the new structure's layers don't repeat precisely. Instead, a portion of the tiles differs randomly. This slight disorder made the system more stable.Nanoscale engineers often see nanoparticles as specialized building blocks, calling it the 'designer atom.’ This delivers precise control over synthetic materials.
“Although there are now several known examples, discovered in nature or through serendipitous routes, our research demystifies their formation and more importantly shows how we can harness the programmable nature of DNA to design and assemble quasicrystals deliberately." Glotzer, co-corresponding author of the study, explained: "In our original quasicrystal simulation, the tetrahedra were arranged into decahedra with minimal gaps between the tetrahedra. Here, those gaps would be filled by DNA, so it made sense that decahedra might make quasicrystals, too.”