Inverse Design Enables Complex 3D Nanoparticle Architectures

Researchers, including Columbia Engineering faculty Oleg Gang, Nanfang Yu, and Sanat Kumar, have developed a powerful inverse-design strategy that enables the programmable assembly of nanoparticles into complex three-dimensional (3D) architectures with unprecedented precision. Using DNA-based “voxels” equipped with directional and addressable bonding sites, the team identified symmetry-guided building blocks, termed mesovoxels, that direct the formation of target and hierarchically organized crystal structures while minimizing design complexity.

The approach allows for translating structural blueprints into self-assembled nanoscale materials and reveals how the amount of encoded interaction information influences assembly fidelity. Leveraging this strategy, the researchers created a diverse range of hierarchically ordered 3D nanoparticle organizations, including structures containing low-dimensional features, helical motifs, a nanoscale analogue of a face-centered perovskite crystal, and a distributed Bragg reflector that integrates plasmonic and photonic length scales. This work provides a general route for engineering arbitrarily complex 3D nanomaterials by design, opening new opportunities for advanced optical, photonic, and functional materials with tailored properties.

Read more: Kahn, J.S., Minevich, B., Michelson, A. et al. Encoding hierarchical 3D architecture through inverse design of programmable bonds. Nat. Mater. 24, 1273–1282 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02263-1