Highly Parallel Synthesis of Nanostructures Inside Crystalline Protein Scaffolds

纳米材料制造的一个巨大挑战是金属纳米结构的可靠，可扩展和可再生生产。对这种纳米结构的合成和位置进行编程的能力将使开发用于能量存储、光捕获或催化的创新材料成为可能。尽管人们对使用生物材料作为模板来控制纳米颗粒的生长和放置非常感兴趣，但目前难以控制所得无机组分的尺寸、形状和位置。有了这个奖项，研究团队将使用工程蛋白质晶体，数万亿单体的高度有序组装，作为“模具”来指导和限制客体纳米颗粒的生长模式。所得纳米结构及其纳米颗粒的混合晶体组装体都具有潜在的有用应用。例如，在蛋白质晶体的溶剂通道内形成的无机结构可以产生用于催化或电池应用的超高表面积材料。这项研究将为本科生和研究生提供生物纳米技术，分子建模，纳米结构合成以及纳米结构成像和分析等前沿领域的跨学科教育培训机会。因此，这项研究的结果将有利于美国的经济和社会。纳米颗粒的生长是一种成核现象，使其在技术上具有挑战性，以均匀的尺寸或低对称性生长它们。该研究小组将使成核与生长脱钩，使用成熟的亲和相互作用将种子纳米颗粒“种植”在蛋白质晶格内的特定位点。然后，接种的细胞核将在各向异性蛋白质基质内进行受控生长。将使用多种技术（包括X射线衍射、元素分析和电子显微镜）对所得混合晶体进行表征。从主晶体释放的纳米颗粒同样将通过电子显微镜表征。与现有的模板定向沉积无机结构的方法相比，结晶支架将提供更高的有序度和高分辨率结构测定的独特可能性。

A grand challenge in nanomaterials manufacturing is the reliable, scalable and reproducible production of metallic nanostructures. The ability to program the synthesis and position of such nanostructures will enable the development of innovative materials for energy storage, light-harvesting or catalysis. Despite a high degree of interest in controlling the growth and placement of nanoparticles using biological materials as templates, it is currently difficult to control the size, shape and position of the resulting inorganic components. With this award, the research team will use engineered protein crystals, highly ordered assemblies of trillions of monomers, as "molds" to direct and limit the growth patterns of guest nanoparticles. Both the resulting nanostructures and the hybrid crystalline assembly of nanoparticles thereof, have potential useful applications. For example, inorganic structures formed within the solvent channels of protein crystals could result in ultra-high surface area materials for catalysis or battery applications. This research will provide interdisciplinary educational training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in cutting-edge areas of bionanotechnology, molecular modeling, nanostructure synthesis, as well as nanostructure imaging and analysis. Results from this research will therefore benefit both the U.S. economy and society.Nanoparticle growth is a nucleation phenomenon, making it technically challenging to grow them with uniform size or low symmetry. The research team will decouple nucleation from growth, using well-established affinity interactions to "plant" seed nanoparticles at specific sites within the protein lattice. Seeded nuclei will then be subjected to controlled growth within the anisotropic protein matrix. The resulting hybrid crystals will be characterized using multiple techniques including x-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, and electron microscopy. Nanoparticles released from the host crystals will likewise be characterized via electron microscopy. In comparison with existing approaches for the template-directed deposition of inorganic structures, crystalline scaffolds will provide a higher degree of order and the unique possibility of high-resolution structure determination.