Self-Assembly of Multi-Flavored DNA-Functionalized Particles into Binary Superlattices

DNA base-pairing can be exploited to induce programmable interactions between colloidal particles via anchoring of complementary DNA-strands on their surface. This allows one to design colloidal systems which can crystallize into a variety of superlattice structures. A common strategy has been to functionalize two particle types by complementary DNA strands so that the same particle types are repulsive whereas the opposite particles are attractive. A more recent scheme, so-called multiflavoring, is to blend complementary DNA strands on the same particle to achieve systems in which like-particles also attract each other. In this work, we show that control over interparticle interactions in such systems can allow control over the resulting binary crystal structures in a way that is not feasible by other methods.