Structural study on gold nanoparticle functionalized with DNA and its non-cross-linking aggregation

► Non-cross-linking aggregation of DNA-functionalized gold nanoparticles was characterized. ► The surface distance between gold nanoparticles increases with increasing DNA length. ► The particles with the same core size assemble together without being affected by tethered DNA. ► Even the particles with full-matched DNA can disperse stably depending on core size or DNA length.