Nature inspires scientists to create new materials
October 14th, 2011 - 3:34 pm ICT by IANSWashington, Oct 14 (IANS) Inspired by nature’s approach, which bonds tiny atoms into diamonds and silicon, scientists are fashioning new crystals from nanoparticles and DNA, the basic building blocks of all living organisms.
The creation of these new materials could be useful in electronics, optics, biomedicine and energy generation, storage and conversion technologies.
“Using these new design rules and nanoparticles as ‘artificial atoms’, we have developed modes of controlled crystallization that are, in many respects, more powerful than the way nature and chemists make crystalline materials from atoms,” said Chad A. Mirkin, who led the study.
“By controlling the size, shape, type and location of nanoparticles, we can make completely new materials and arrangements of particles, not just what nature dictates,” added Mirkin, reports the journal Science.
Mirkin believes one day, software will be created that allows scientists to pick particles and DNA pairs required to make almost any structure on demand.
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Tags: artificial atoms, basic building blocks, biomedicine, chemists, conversion technologies, crystalline materials, crystallization, crystals, day software, energy generation, journal science, living organisms, mirkin, nanoparticles, new materials, particles, respects, shape type, size shape, tiny atoms