Multicomponent Assemblies Including Long DNA and Nanoparticles — An Answer for the Integration Problem?

Since we have been working on the integration of long DNA and nanoparticles, we have seen a great potential for these methods in new approaches to electronics. However, we have to point out that there remains a lot of work to be done. All the steps described here are well established as separate procedures. However, the combination of these steps into standard procedures has not yet been established. First of all, the problem of the parallelization of the integration of the molecules, which will be very important for commercial or forward-looking applications, has not been satisfactory solved. This is closely connected to the problem of suitable surfaces and both their modification and their functionalization. We have been working a lot on the development of simple, homogeneous surface modifications, especially on microstructured chips. But even the simple method of a drying droplet is not completely understood today. So one has in a large number of samples only a few with DNA in the desired places, leading to problems of reproducibility and throughput, and a series of established steps will not always work with the same precision and efficiency as does every separate step.

“There is plenty of room at the bottom”, but there is also even more work there.