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NANOSCIENCE
Harnessing the organizational power of biology, chemists at the University of Texas, Austin, have developed a facile new way to precisely order nanoparticles on the macroscale. Assistant professor Angela M. Belcher, graduate student Seung-Wuk Lee, and coworkers find that viruses engineered to bind zinc sulfide quantum dots self-assemble into highly ordered, three-dimensional liquid-crystal films [Science, 296, 892 (2002)].
When this virus was mixed with a solution of ZnS precursors, the resulting ZnS-tipped viruses self-assembled into liquid-crystal films. By changing the solution concentration, the researchers made films with different virus arrangements--for example, rod-shaped viruses lined up end to end or organized in a herringbone pattern--each with a unique ordering of ZnS quantum dots. Viruses could be similarly engineered to organize other electronic, optical, and magnetic materials, Belcher says. She and her coworkers are now screening for viruses that bind CdS, CdSe, ZnSe, Co, CoPt, and FePt. A number of techniques have been used to create similar patterns of nanostructures. In an accompanying commentary, chemistry professor Christopher K. Ober of Cornell University notes that the viral assembly method--which yields centimeter-long liquid-crystal films--may make it easier to extend such features over relatively large dimensions. |
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