In DNA, scientists find a solution to build a superconductor that could transform technology

Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and their collaborators have used DNA to overcome a nearly insurmountable hurdle to design materials that would revolutionize electronics.

One possible result of such engineered materials could be superconductors, which have zero electrical resistance, allowing electrons to flow unhindered. That means they don’t lose power and don’t generate heat, unlike today’s electrical transmission media. Development of a superconductor that could be widely used at room temperature, rather than at extremely high or low temperatures. low temperaturesas is now possible, could lead to hyper-fast computers, reduce the size of electronic devices, allow high speed trains to float on magnets and reduce energy use, among other benefits.

One such superconductor was first proposed more than 50 years ago by Stanford physicist William A. Little. Scientists have spent decades trying to make it work, but even after validating the viability of his idea, they were met with a challenge that seemed impossible to overcome. Until now.

Edward H. Egelman, Ph.D., of UVA’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, has been a leader in the field of cryo-electron microscope (cryo-EM), and he and Leticia Beltran, a graduate student in his lab, used cryo-EM imaging for this seemingly impossible project. “It shows,” he said, “that the cryo-EM technique has great potential in materials research.”

Atomic level engineering

One possible way to realize Little’s idea for a superconductor is to modify networks of carbon nanotubes, hollow cylinders of carbon so small they must be measured in nanometers, billionths of a meter. But there was a great challenge: to control chemical reactions along the nanotubes so that the network could be assembled with the necessary precision and function as intended.

Egelman and his collaborators found an answer in the very building blocks of life. They took DNA, the genetic material that tells living cells how to operate, and used it to guide a chemical reaction that would overcome Little’s great superconductor barrier. In short, they used chemistry to perform amazingly precise structural engineering: construction at the level of individual molecules. The result was a network of carbon nanotubes assembled according to the needs of Little’s room-temperature superconductor.

“This work demonstrates that ordered modification of carbon nanotubes can be achieved by exploiting DNA sequence control over the spacing between adjacent reaction sites,” said Egelman.

The network they built hasn’t been tested for superconductivity yet, but it offers proof-of-principle and has great potential for the future, the researchers say. “While cryo-EM has become the leading technique in biology for determining the atomic structures of protein assemblies, it has so far had much less impact on material sciencesaid Egelman, whose previous work earned him induction into the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors a scientist can receive.

Egelman and colleagues say their DNA-guided approach to network construction could have a wide variety of useful research applications, especially in physics. But it also validates the possibility of building Little’s room temperature superconductor. The scientists’ work, combined with other advances in superconductors in recent years, could ultimately transform the technology as we know it and lead to a much more “Star Trek” future.

“While we often think of biology using the tools and techniques of physics, our work shows that approaches being developed in biology can be applied to problems in physics and engineering,” said Egelman. “This is what’s so exciting about science: not being able to predict where our work will lead.”

The researchers have published their findings in the journal Sciences.