Development of nanotubes coated with platinum nanodendrites using a virus as a template

Abstract

We developed a facile method to fabricate platinum (Pt) porous nanotubes coated with interconnected Pt dendrites using the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) as a template. The surfaceexposed arginine residues of the TMV induced the selective deposition of Pt seeds on the TMV outside surface, and poly(sodium-p-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) was chosen to stabilize the dispersity of TMV coated with Pt seeds (TMV/SPt). The limited space between the Pt seeds and their uniform distribution on the TMV exterior confined the growth of Pt dendrites, resulting in continuous dendritic platinum nanotubes (TMV/DPtNT). The synergistic effects of porous dendrites and anisotropic structures of the TMV/DPtNTs provided an increase in the active sites, the enhancement of transport efficiency and long-distance electron transfer, which greatly improved the catalytic activity. We also demonstrated that such nanotubes could be used in the detection of H 2 O 2 with good sensitivity.

Review—Nanomaterials Green Synthesis for High-Performance Secondary Rechargeable Batteries: Approaches, Challenges, and Perspectives

“…119 TMV-encapsulated proteins such as aspartic, glutamic, and arginine residues with their negative charges were found to effectively interact with metal cations. Gua et al 120 reported that platinum strongly interacted with arginine residues on the TMV outer surface. The Pt seeds are nucleated and grown on TMV surface, resulting in dendrite Pt nanotubes with a length of 377 nm and exterior diameter of 72 nm.…”