A team of researchers led byYu Huang, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, has developed a way for manufacturing nano-crystals with pre-designed shapes with surfactantsand biomolecules that attach themselves selectively to particular facets of the crystal surface.
At the nanoscale, the physical and chemical properties of materials depend on the materials' size and shape. The ultimate goal has been to rationally engineer materials to achieve programmable structures and predictable properties, thereby producing the desired functions. Yet, shaped nanocrystals are still generally synthesized by trial-and-error, using non-specific molecules as surfactants a result of the inability to find appropriate molecules to control crystal formation.
This development could help create nanocatalysts in preferred shapes that exhibited catalytic properties. The team identified target peptide sequences, which could recognize a specific crystal surface and create nanocrystals having a particular surface to help monitor the shape, according to Chin-Yi Chiu, a UCLA Engineering graduate student and principal author of the research paper that has been published in the online journal, Nature Chemistry.
Facet-specific biomolecules could direct nanocrystals’ growth, and presently in a pre-determined manner. The team used a phage library to produce multiple peptide sequences. This helped identification of peptide sequences selectivity on varied crystal surfaces. The team is conducting further research to show whether or not the synthesis of material structures could be programmed.
The research program was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research; the U.S. Army Research Office, through the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE); and a Sloan Research Fellowship.
Source: http://www.ucla.edu