9I制作厂免费 researchers develop a cheaper, safer material for use in solar panels, sensors and optical devices
Using proteins from聽a common tobacco聽plant virus, 9I制作厂免费聽chemistry聽researchers聽have developed a simple, eco-friendly way to arrange gold nanoparticles into ultrathin sheets, strengthening聽the particles鈥� optical properties. The result:聽cheaper, safer materials for solar panels,聽sensors聽and advanced optical devices.聽
Gold nanoparticles are only effective in聽strengthening optical signals when the nanoparticles are聽arranged on a surface聽and聽spaced at exact distances.聽Until now, creating those patterns required harsh chemicals and tightly controlled lab conditions.聽
The聽9I制作厂免费 team modified a聽tobacco聽mosaic聽virus聽so that it would聽self-assemble聽into sheets聽in water and at room temperature, with the聽nanoparticles properly spaced.聽聽
鈥淚f you just chuck these nanoparticles on a surface, some聽fraction聽of them will randomly cause enhancement,鈥� said Associate Professor and co-author聽Amy Blum. 鈥淏ut if you can get them to be at a fixed good distance, then the whole surface is active.鈥澛犅犅�
The result is a nanomaterial that can be聽made聽at聽a lower cost聽and with less聽environmental impact,聽compared to聽the existing method.聽
Nature鈥檚 building blocks聽
Blum said that this work聽represents聽an important step聽toward sustainable nanomaterials for everyday technologies.聽聽
鈥淭his is about using聽nature鈥檚聽building blocks to make technology cleaner, cheaper and smarter,鈥澛爐he researcher聽said.聽聽聽
鈥淔or safety, we聽don鈥檛聽use the active virus. We just use the shell, which聽contains聽no聽genetic material,鈥澛爏he added.聽
Building the protein scaffold聽
To build the scaffold, the team聽modified聽the聽virus鈥檚聽protein by adding a short chain of histidine聽鈥撀爀ssentially tiny聽hooks that latch onto gold nanoparticles and guide the聽proteins to self-assemble into ultrathin sheets.聽
鈥淲e rely on a large number of very weak interactions,鈥澛燘lum聽said. 鈥淚f I have one, it聽definitely won鈥檛聽hold together. If I have 15,聽it鈥檒l聽hold it very, very rigidly.鈥澛犅�
Without this modification, the protein tends to clump. The weaker interactions instead encourage the proteins to lay flat, Blum noted.聽
The team was surprised to find that under certain conditions the sheets could roll themselves into聽nanoscale聽tubes.聽This聽opens聽the聽way聽for聽researchers聽to聽investigate聽whether the聽tubes聽might one day function like聽nanoscopic聽fibre-optic cables, Blum said.聽
About this study聽
鈥�,鈥澛燽y Ismael Abu-Baker, Alexander Al-Feghali, Elliot聽Zolfaghar,聽Gangamallaiah聽Velpula, Artur P. Biela, Steven De聽Feyter, Jonathan G. Heddle, Gonzalo Cosa聽and聽Amy聽Szuchmacher聽Blum, was published in聽Small聽in October 2025.聽
