Self-Assembly of CdTe Nanoparticles with DNA and Proteins

Nanoparticles (NPs) provide exclusive apparatus for material applications as they feature unique optical, electronic, and magnetic properties. The advanced knowledge of nanoparticle organization can bridge the gap between the synthetic “bottom up”, and lithographic “top down” assembly processes. Similarly, protein-protein interaction and DNA engineering is also used for fabricating advanced architectures. As biomolecules and NPs are at same length scale, introducing proteins or DNA directly in the assembly with inorganic NPs is an exceptional way for combining the intrinsic properties of biomolecules with advanced physical properties of inorganic crystals. In this study, the already known CdTe NP assemblies into nanowires and nanosheets were exploited to insert proteins and DNA using charge dipolar interactions. The study provides (1) formation of new morphologies having the properties from both the components; (2) biomolecular structures can be tuned in the assembly for generating dynamic assemblies and (3) the variety of proteins with metallic/semiconductor NPs used can lead to bio-nanocomposites for specific photo-electronic materials, optical sensors and delivery agents.