Letter abstract
Nature Materials 1, 169 - 172 (2002)
Published online: 27 October 2002 | doi:10.1038/nmat758
Subject Categories: Biological materials | Nanoscale materials | Design synthesis and processing
Biomimetic synthesis and patterning of silver nanoparticles
Rajesh R. Naik1, Sarah J. Stringer1, Gunjan Agarwal1, Sharon E. Jones1 & Morley O. Stone1
The creation of nanoscale materials for advanced structures has led to a growing interest in the area of biomineralization. Numerous microorganisms are capable of synthesizing inorganic-based structures1, 2. For example, diatoms use amorphous silica as a structural material3, bacteria synthesize magnetite (Fe3O4) particles and form silver nanoparticles4, and yeast cells synthesize cadmium sulphide nanoparticles5. The process of biomineralization and assembly of nanostructured inorganic components into hierarchical structures has led to the development of a variety of approaches that mimic the recognition and nucleation capabilities found in biomolecules for inorganic material synthesis6, 7, 8, 9, 10. In this report, we describe the in vitro biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using silver-binding peptides identified from a combinatorial phage display peptide library.
- Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Biotechnology Group, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio 45433, USA
Correspondence to: Morley O. Stone1 e-mail: morley.stone@wpafb.af.mil
