Silver Nanoparticle and Nanowire Formation by Microtubule Templates

Abstract

The synthesis of increasingly miniaturized structures using alternative techniques is strongly motivated by future applications in areas such as nanoelectronics. Highly ordered protein assemblies of tubular structure and high geometric aspect ratio are used as bioorganic templates for the bottom-up synthesis of metal nanostructures. When the biotemplate is coupled to an appropriate chemical reaction, metal is generated in situ and deposited along the backbone of the biostructure. Ag/protein structures with different morphologies are produced, from microtubules densely covered with small Ag nanoparticles to continuous Ag nanowires. Our results demonstrate the potential of bioassemblies in general for the fabrication of multidimensional structures with interesting material properties.

Cylindrical and ring‐shaped tubulin assemblies as metallization templates explored by FESEM/EDX and SFM

“…High-resolution transmission electron microscopic studies gave a mean Ag particle diameter of 5.2 š 2.5 nm. 7 In contrast to the non-metallized bare MTs, an agglomeration of the metallized protein structures during synthesis was often observed. The MTs were deposited onto a silicon support and imaged using the Inlens-SE detector.…”

“…Ag C , Pd 2C ) and thus enable the template-directed metallization of the biomolecules. 6,7 MTs are the most prominent tubulin polymorphs possessing typical dimensions of about 25 nm in diameter and several micrometers in length. They are highly dynamic structures with a hollow cylindrical filamentous appearance formed by a parallel alignment of 13-14 protofilaments of alternating˛-andˇ-tubulin monomers.…”

Potential Links between Cytoskeletal Disturbances and Electroneurophysiological Dysfunctions Induced in the Central Nervous System by Inorganic Nanoparticles

“…Inevitably, NPs encounter cytoplasmic proteins, such as actin and tubulin. Some studies have demonstrated direct interactions between the cytoskeletal system and nanomaterials, [28,[54][55][56], and these interactions are probably the main reason for the resulting cytoskeletal dysfunction. Gheshlaghi et al [54] have indicated that TiO 2 NPs could induce significant tubulin conformational changes and decreases in tubulin polymerization.…”

Morphology‐controlled Synthesis of SiO2 Hierarchical Structures Using Pollen Grains as Templates

“…have been widely employed as templates to fabricate structural functional inorganic materials. The nano-particles, 12,13 two-dimensional arrays of nanoparticles, 14,15 nanowires, 16,17 nanotubes, 18 nanospheres 19 and other nanostructured complex architectures 20 have been achieved by the facile biotemplate approach. Particularly, some macroscopical bio-templates with micro-/nanoscale structures, such as insect wings, plant leaves, 4,21 and silk fibers, 2,22 have also been used as templates to fabricate functional inorganic materials with novel architectures, which may find potential applications to catalysis, magnetism, separation, gas sensors, electrical and optical devices and so on.…”