Fabrication of High Aspect Ratio Gold Nanowires within the Microtubule Lumen

Abstract

Gold nanowires have great potential use as interconnects in electronic, photonic, and optoelectronic devices. To date, there are various fabrication strategies for gold nanowires, each one associated with particular drawbacks as they utilize high temperatures, toxic chemicals, or expensive compounds to produce nanowires of suboptimal quality. Inspired by nanowire fabrication strategies that used higher-order biopolymer structures as molds for electroless deposition of gold, we here report a strategy for the growth of gold nanowires from seed nanoparticles within the lumen of microtubules. Luminal targeting of seed particles occurs through covalently linked Fab fragments of an antibody recognizing the acetylated lysine 40 on the luminal side of αtubulin. Gold nanowires grown by electroless deposition within the microtubule lumen exhibit a homogeneous morphology and high aspect ratios with a mean diameter of 20 nm. Our approach is fast, simple, and inexpensive and does not require toxic chemicals or other harsh conditions.

Generation of stable microtubule superstructures by binding of peptide-fused tetrameric proteins to inside and outside

“…By combining the posttranslational modification of tubulins with our branched doublet, it may be possible to sort cargos using different motor proteins that have different affinities toward the posttranslational modifications ( 6 ). Microtubules have been previously used as templates to fabricate metal nanowires ( 14 , 51 ), and our microtubule superstructures may be used as such templates to construct metal nanowires, including branched and long forms. The high microtubule polymerization activity of TP-AG surpasses that of taxol, a well-known anticancer drug.…”

Facile Synthesis of One-Dimensional van der Waals SbPS4 Nanostructures via Vapor Transport and Negative Thermal Quenching in Photoluminescence

“…For nanoscale applications, it is preferable to use thin nanobelts/nanowires that are peeled from nanobundles, as they possess fewer atomic chains and more ideal 1D characteristics. 43 Therefore, controlling the P 2 S 5 vapor pressure is crucial for achieving a high yield of atomically thin nanobelts/nanowires. Considering the extensive use of silicon in the semiconductor industry, 44 we also grew SbPS 4 nanostructures on the Si substrate by maintaining the same condition as the sample with T ps = 200 °C, for comparison.…”

“…The histograms in Figure g show that as the T ps decreased, more nanobundles with smaller widths were observed. For nanoscale applications, it is preferable to use thin nanobelts/nanowires that are peeled from nanobundles, as they possess fewer atomic chains and more ideal 1D characteristics . Therefore, controlling the P 2 S 5 vapor pressure is crucial for achieving a high yield of atomically thin nanobelts/nanowires.…”

Horizontal Magnetic Tweezers to Directly Measure the Force–Velocity Relationship for Multiple Kinesin Motors

“…[ 33 ] Magnetic fields have recently also been suggested to influence the movement of gliding microtubules homogeneously coated on their outside by CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles. [ 34 ] However, because these nanoparticles interfere with the stepping of the motors on the microtubule lattice, already leading to a slow‐down without the application of a magnetic field due to roadblock effects, [ 35 ] the use of discrete beads which only occupy a low number of motor binding sites or the functionalization of the microtubule lumen [ 36 ] with magnetic material might have advantages.…”