Interactions between Metal Oxides and Biomolecules: from Fundamental Understanding to Applications

Abstract

Metallo-oxide (MO)-based bioinorganic nanocomposites promise unique structures, physicochemical properties, and novel biochemical functionalities, and within the past decade, investment in research on materials such as ZnO, TiO 2 , SiO 2 , and GeO 2 has significantly increased. Besides traditional approaches, the synthesis, shaping, structural patterning, and postprocessing chemical functionalization of the materials surface is inspired by strategies which mimic processes in nature. Would such materials deliver new technologies? Answering this question requires the merging of historical knowledge and current research from different fields of science. Practically, we need an effective defragmentation of the research area. From our perspective, the superficial accounting of material properties, chemistry of the surfaces, and the behavior of biomolecules next to such surfaces is a problem. This is particularly of concern when we wish to bridge between technologies in vitro and biotechnologies in vivo. Further, besides the potential practical technological efficiency and advantages such materials might exhibit, we have to consider the wider long-term implications of material stability and toxicity. In this contribution, we present a critical review of recent advances in the chemistry and engineering of MO-based biocomposites, highlighting the role of interactions at the interface and the techniques by which these can be studied. At the end of the article, we outline the challenges which hamper progress in research and extrapolate to developing and promising directions including additive manufacturing and synthetic biology that could benefit from molecular level understanding of interactions occurring between inanimate (abiotic) and living (biotic) materials.

Graphdiyne-modified TiO2 nanofibers with osteoinductive and enhanced photocatalytic antibacterial activities to prevent implant infection

“…Since the early 1970s, titanium (Ti) and Ti-alloy implants have been widely applied in orthopedics and dentistry due to their benign biocompatibility, chemical stability, and mechanical properties 1 , 2 . However, orthopedic implant-associated infections mainly caused by Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) delay the healing process and lead to bone loss, requiring extensive surgical intervention, and long-term antibiotic therapy 3 .…”

Rapid and Selective Biomarker Detection with Conductometric Sensors

“…Metal‐oxide based biosensors have attracted attention as alternative biosensing platforms during the last few years. [ 24,25 ] Due to the broad range of favorable optical, electrical, and mechanical properties, stoichiometric ZnO has been a popular metal oxide in electrochemical detection of a wide range of biomolecules. [ 26–28 ] Current approaches using stoichiometric ZnO require complex detection electronics, [ 29 ] with nanomaterial approaches still encountering issues with stability, dispersity, and reactivity.…”

Application of Bacteriophages in Nanotechnology

“…There are examples of phage display-selected peptides for the binding of nanoparticles (e.g., noble metals [ 35 ], ZnO [ 36 ], Fe 3 O 4 [ 37 , 38 ], semiconductors TiO 2 , CdS, ZnS, (SiO 2 ) [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]), minerals [ 44 ] or ions (e.g., arsenic (III) [ 45 ]). The potential applications vary from sensing [ 45 , 46 , 47 ], separation, and processing [ 44 ] to templated nanoparticle synthesis, where phage display-selected peptides control the nucleation and growth of inorganic nanoparticles [ 48 , 49 ].…”