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Self-assembly

En route to patchy superlattices

Nature Nanotechnology volume 8, pages 5–6 (2013)Cite this article

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The electrostatic interaction between protein cages and charged gold nanoparticles can be used to assemble nanoparticle superlattices with structures that have not been observed before in nature.

Dispersed suspensions of nanoparticles have the potential to self-assemble into three-dimensional superlattices with macroscopic dimensions. Such bottom-up crystals might, for example, resemble minerals like halite but could have novel properties due the core of the nanoparticle or its surface chemistry. It may also be possible to form crystals that have no natural analogue due to the diverse array of nanoscale building blocks that are available. Writing in Nature Nanotechnology, Mauri Kostiainen and colleagues at Aalto University, St-Jean-Photochimie and the University of Rome have now shown that protein cages can be used in combination with positively charged gold nanoparticles to assemble binary superlattices with long-range order1.

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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the gold nanoparticle-mediated assembly of CCMV into crystalline superlattices with a face-centred cubic (FCC) AB8 structure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mathew M. Maye is at the Department of Chemistry and Syracuse Biomaterials Institute, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA,

    Mathew M. Maye

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  1. Mathew M. Maye
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Correspondence to Mathew M. Maye.

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Maye, M. En route to patchy superlattices. Nature Nanotech 8, 5–6 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2012.244

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