Elizabeth S. Royston, Center for Biosystems Research, University of Marylnd Biotechnology Institute, 5115 Plant Sciences Building, College Park, MD 20742, James N. Culver, Center for Biosystems Research, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 5115 Plant Sciences Building, College Park, MD 20742, and Michael T. Harris, Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering, 104, 480 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907.
Interest in nanotechnology is increasing as the need for cheap, reproducible, and easily manufactured nano-structured devices increases. Using a biological platform provides a readily available, inexpensive, and uniform template with modifiable characteristics for the creation of high-area surfaces. Genetically modified Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), containing additional surface-reactive cysteine residues, is first vertically self-assembled onto a gold surface and then encased in a continuous ~20 nm thick coating of Ni or Co. Coated surfaces are characterized using XPS, FESEM, and TEM. These high-area surfaces have potential use in numerous applications; we demonstrate one potential use as a cathode for a secondary battery.