DNA Origami-Driven Trap-State Control in Single Silicon Quantum Dot

We have performed single-particle photoluminescence studies of individual silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) precisely anchored on DNA-origami nanostructures to elucidate how nanoscale spatial organization reshapes blinking dynamics, lifetime, and emission statistics. Compared to bare Si QDs and ssDNA bound Si QDs, origami bound emitters exhibit ∼2-fold enhancement in ON-time with increased photon yields by 40-60%. Our findings reveal that the fluorescence lifetime increases from ∼3 ns to 6-7 ns, together with a transition from inverse to truncated power-law blinking behavior after immobilization with DNA origami. Single-step photobleaching and photon-antibunching analyses confirm emission from individual Si QDs rather than aggregates. Taken together, these results demonstrate that DNA origami acts as a programmable passivation environment that suppresses surface-oxidation-related trap states, thereby enhancing the photostability of Si QDs and enabling their integration into nanoscale optoelectronic and photonic assemblies.