Synthetic and Biological Nanoparticles Combined to Produce New Metamaterials
Synthetic and Biological Nanoparticles Combined to Produce New Metamaterials
Scientists have succeeded in organising virus particles and other protein cages into crystalline materials with other nanoparticles. Dr Mauri Kostiainen of Aalto University Department of Applied Physics led the research, and the results have now been published in Nature Nanotechnology. The Academy of Finland has funded the study.
Layer structures, or superlattices, of crystalline nanoparticles have been extensively studied in recent years. The research aims to develop hierarchically structured nanomaterials with tuneable optical, magnetic, electronic and catalytic properties.
“Binary nanoparticle lattices have received so much attention because they can provide a way to prepare multifunctional metamaterials - periodic artificial materials not found in nature. In them, new properties arise from collective behaviour,” explains Kostiainen.
These nanomaterials are important for applications in sensing, optics, electronics and drug delivery. They can also provide a fundamental understanding to aid the construction of different superlattice structures.