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Biomolecular templates

Nanoparticles align

Nature Materials volume 2, pages 214–215 (2003)Cite this article

Biomolecular templating uses biomolecules to position nanoscale materials onto substrates. DNA has emerged as an attractive scaffold to which metal nanoparticles can be electrostatically bound to form evenly spaced linear arrays.

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Figure 1: Extended linear arrays of positively charged gold nanoparticles form through electrostatic interactions with negatively charged DNA strands.
Figure 2: The scaffolding technology developed by Warner and Hutchison2 could potentially be used to assemble nanoparticles onto higher ordered circuit-like structures, such as three- and four-branched junctions and complex two and three-dimensional crystalline assemblies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Ames Research Center, Astrobiology Technology Branch and Center for Nanotechnology, Moffett Field, 94035, Mail Stop 239-15, California, USA

    R. Andrew McMillan

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  1. R. Andrew McMillan
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McMillan, R. Nanoparticles align. Nature Mater 2, 214–215 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat866

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