Electric-Field-Directed Assembly of Biomolecular-Derivatized Nanoparticles into Higher-Order Structures

Multilayered structures composed of biomolecule‐derivatized nanoparticles can be fabricated by electric‐field‐directed self‐assembly. A microelectrode‐array device facilitates the rapid parallel electrophoretic transport and binding of biotin and streptavidin fluorescent nanoparticles to specific sites on the microarray. Control of the current, voltage, and activation time of each of the 400‐microarray electrodes allows a combinatorial approach to optimize nanoparticle binding. Under optimal conditions, nanoparticle layers form within 15 s of microelectrode activation, and the directed assembly of more than 50 alternate layers of nanoparticles is complete within an hour. The final multilayered structures are removed from the support by a relatively simple lift‐off process. The electric‐field process allows the parallel patterned assembly of multilayer structures using extremely low concentrations of nanoparticles and produces minimal nonspecific binding to unactivated sites. These results are significant for the development of rapid, maskless nanofabrication and hierarchical integration of biomolecular‐derivatized nanocomponents into higher‐order materials and devices. Sticky stuff: A combinatorial approach is used to optimize nanoparticle binding on microarray electrodes for the fabrication of multilayer structures (see image). The final structures can easily be removed from the support and the ability to independently control the current, voltage, and activation time of each of the electrodes holds great promise for the development of future hierarchical 3D structures.