Biofabrication methods for the patterned assembly and synthesis of viral nanotemplates

Abstract

This paper reports on novel methodologies for the patterning and templated synthesis of virus-structured nanomaterials in two- and three-dimensional microfabricated architectures using the Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The TMV is a high aspect ratio biological molecule which can be engineered to include amino acids with enhanced binding properties. These modifications facilitate self-assembly of the TMV onto various substrates and enable its use as a template for the synthesis of nanostructured materials. This work focuses on the combination of this bottom-up biologically inspired fabrication method with standard top-down micromachining processes that allow direct integration of the virus-structured materials into batch-fabricated devices. Photolithographic patterning of uncoated as well as nickel-coated TMV nanostructures has been achieved using a lift-off process in both solvent and mild basic solutions and their assembly onto three-dimensional polymer and silicon microstructures is demonstrated. In addition to these patterning techniques, in situ formation of metal oxide TMV coatings in patterned microfabricated environments is shown using atomic layer deposition directly on the nickel-coated viruses. The biofabrication 'process toolbox' presented in this work offers a simple and versatile alternative for the hierarchical patterning and incorporation of biotemplated nanomaterials into micro/nanofabrication schemes.

Preparation and magnetoviscosity of nanotube ferrofluids by viral scaffolding and ALD on porous templates

“…Furthermore, the biology and structure of TMV have been studied for more than 120 years [22] -indeed, with such success that today's molecular models for TMV are accurate to the atomic level [23,24]. The deposition of metals, nanoparticles, or semiconducting oxides on various sites of the viral particles was demonstrated both in our laboratories [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] and elsewhere [32][33][34][35][36].…”

“…Several deposition processes have been discovered that reproducibly result in clusters some tens of nanometers in diameter [31,33,38]. In this case, parts of the viral surface remain exposed to the bath.…”

Nanoscale device architectures derived from biological assemblies: The case of tobacco mosaic virus and (apo)ferritin

“…This method uses photoresist masks to spatially define sacrificial layers that are removed by either acetone (for nickel-coated TMVs) or a pH-adjusted developer (for uncoated TMVs) to reveal the desired surface patterns. 140) Alonso et al integrated TMV viruses into nanostructures using EBL. In this study, positive or negative resists were spin-coated on surfaces containing virus particles, and EBL writing was used to produce structures with exposed TMV sections while leaving other particle sections covered by the photoresist.…”

An integrated electromagnetic micro-turbo-generator supported on encapsulated microball bearings

“…Due to the nonlinear scaling of the battery size with respect to the transistor power consumption in portable electronic circuits, primary efforts have been focused on improving the power density of microbatteries. Materials such as LiCoO 2 and LiMn 2 O 4 have been explored for high capacity [33] and three dimensional hierarchical architectures have been designed for improved total area and hence power density [34][35][36][37]. Specific challenges in realizing high power density lithium ion microbatteries also include the limitations on the intercalation of sufficiently high volumes of lithium, the irreversibility of the structural changes on thin films during this intercalation process, and material degradation during charge and discharge cycles.…”