DNA-based plasmonic nanostructures

Plasmonic nanostructures have rapidly emerged as a type of optical material possessing many novel physical properties and holding great promise for a wide range of applications. One of the key challenges in this area lies in the bottom-up construction of precise plasmonic nanostructures with novel optical properties. By exploiting the unparalleled self-recognition properties of DNA molecules, researchers in the area of DNA nanotechnology have worked to make complex and hierarchical DNA nanostructures in a highly controllable and programmable manner, which offers unprecedented opportunities for developing self-assembled plasmonic nanostructures. In this review, we will summarize recent advances on design and fabrication of static and dynamic DNA nanostructures, and their use as linkers or templates for the assembly of plasmonic nanostructures.