(644c) DNA Assembled Al/CuO Nanocomposites

Energetic materials  are substances that store chemical energy which can be released under a stimulus. They can be used in many applications such as military, health, spatial… In this context, Al/CuO couple is interesting because of its high potential energy and compatibility with MEMS technologies. At the nanoscale, the performances of these materials increase significantly but are difficult to control, thus, a bottom-up approach through DNA directed Al and CuO nanoparticles self assembly is a good way to realize nanoenergetic materials with controlled formulation.In this work, we demonstrate a DNA-directed assembly procedure to produce highly energetic nanocomposites by assembling Al and CuO nanoparticles into a micron size particle of Al/CuO nanocomposite with exquisite energetic performance in comparison to physically mixed Al/CuO counterparts. Using 80 nm Al nanoparticles, the heat of reaction and the onset temperature are 1.8 kJ/g and 410 °C, respectively. This experimental achievement relies on the development of simple and reliable protocols to disperse and sort metallic and metal oxide nanopowders in aqueous solution and the establishment of specific DNA surface modification processes for Al and CuO nanoparticles. Overall our work, which shows that DNA can be used as structural material to assemble Al/Al, CuO/CuO and Al/CuO composite materials, opens the route for a molecular engineering of the material at the nanoscale.We also demonstrated the capability os such assembled compound to be deposited on MEMS chips using ink-jet technique.