Bottom-Up Synthesis and Sensor Applications of Biomimetic Nanostructures

Abstract

The combination of nanotechnology, biology, and bioengineering greatly improved the developments of nanomaterials with unique functions and properties. Biomolecules as the nanoscale building blocks play very important roles for the final formation of functional nanostructures. Many kinds of novel nanostructures have been created by using the bioinspired self-assembly and subsequent binding with various nanoparticles. In this review, we summarized the studies on the fabrications and sensor applications of biomimetic nanostructures. The strategies for creating different bottom-up nanostructures by using biomolecules like DNA, protein, peptide, and virus, as well as microorganisms like bacteria and plant leaf are introduced. In addition, the potential applications of the synthesized biomimetic nanostructures for colorimetry, fluorescence, surface plasmon resonance, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, electrical resistance, electrochemistry, and quartz crystal microbalance sensors are presented. This review will promote the understanding of relationships between biomolecules/microorganisms and functional nanomaterials in one way, and in another way it will guide the design and synthesis of biomimetic nanomaterials with unique properties in the future.

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

“…Antibodies, enzymes, proteins and most organelles within cells are smaller than the micrometer-scale and are considered nanostructures. Recently, lipids, self-assembled peptides, and polysaccharides were also included in the list of nanostructures present in the human body [ 271 – 272 ]. These nanostructures are artificially manipulated for use in pharmaceutical industries.…”

Self-Assembly of Organic Nanomaterials and Biomaterials: The Bottom-Up Approach for Functional Nanostructures Formation and Advanced Applications

“…A variety of biomolecules including peptides, proteins (viruses and enzymes), lipids, and oligonucleotides (DNA/RNA) macromolecules exhibited great potential to form supramolecular functional nanostructures. Due to their excellent physico-chemical properties and their higher reactivity than conventional non-biological building blocks, these biomolecules allow to develop a large variety of nanostructures, characterized by shape accuracy architectures that can be employed for the design and engineering of advanced nanodevices in the fields of materials science, biotechnology and biomedical engineering [132][133][134].…”

Assembly of gold nanoparticles using turnip yellow mosaic virus as an in-solution SERS sensor

“…1 Conjugated with inorganic or organic nano-objects, the resulting bio-hybrid materials present wide-ranging applications, such as bioimaging, biosensing, catalysis, energy conversion etc. [2][3][4] Viruses are increasingly being used in nanotechnology as 3D scaffolds. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Their capsids are composed of self-assembled protein subunits, and are uniform in shape and size (20-200 nm in diameter).…”