Ma, K. et al. Nature 558, 577–580 (2018).
Self-assembled nanostructures with highly symmetrical, cage-like polyhedral shapes are usually made of programmable organic biomaterials such as DNA. Wiesner and colleagues have now developed a system for the self-assembly of inorganic silica nanostructures that are directed by surfactant micelles. The researchers took advantage of cryo-EM and single-particle 3D reconstruction to accurately identify <10-nm individual silica nanoparticles with dodecahedral cage-like features, called ‘silicages’. It is likely that these nano-sized silicages are formed via Coulomb interaction between positively charged surfactant micelles and negatively charged silica clusters in aqueous solutions. This micelle-directed assembly method enables researchers to distinguish the inside and outside of the cage, which holds great potential for applications ranging from catalysis to drug delivery. Additionally, these self-assembled nanoscale inorganic cages are not limited to silica materials, but also can be produced from gold, silver, and vanadium oxide.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tang, L. Self-assembled ‘silicages’. Nat Methods 15, 571 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-018-0088-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-018-0088-x