Article
a bExtended Data Fig. 3 | Self-assembly of DNA-coated compressed clusters.
a, Simulation data (diamond symbols) are obtained using the HOOMD-blue
software package; experimental data (circles) are superimposed. A typical
simulation run is performed with 216–8,000 particles in a box with periodic
boundaries at a volume fraction of 5%. The system is slowly cooled in the
vicinity of the aggregation temperature. The final system is analysed to detect
and characterize the formation of a potential crystalline phase. The red
diamonds represent where the particles crystallize into cubic diamond; the
grey diamonds represents where the system condenses into amorphous
structures. The attractive DNA interaction is modelled by a Lennard–Jones
potential that has its minimum at 1.03b. Using a shorter-range attractive
potential between patches moves the region where cubic diamond crystals
form to larger size ratios; a longer-range potential does the opposite. The grey
line shows the locus of size and compression ratios where all three spherical
lobes and the patch on neighbouring particles simultaneously touch in the
staggered conformation. The blue circles represent experimental samples that
either crystallized in the cubic diamond structure (closed circles; error bars
±0.02 in both directions) or formed random aggregates (open circles; similar
uncertainties but with the error bars suppressed). b, A snapshot of the
simulated system where the compressed clusters crystallized into cubic
diamond crystals (dcc/(2a) = 0.70).