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Virus used to make nanoparticles
The virus is spherical and has a diameter of 30 nanometres
UK scientists from Norwich have used a plant virus to create nanotechnology building blocks.
The virus, which infects black-eyed peas, was employed as a "scaffold" on to which other chemicals were attached.
By linking iron-containing compounds to the virus's surface, the John Innes Centre team was able to create electronically active nanoparticles.
The researchers tell the journal Small that their work could be used in the future to make tiny electrical devices.
The work is yet another example of how scientists are now trying to engineer objects on the scale of atoms and molecules.
At the nanoscale, materials can be "tuned" to display unusual properties that could be exploited to build faster, lighter, stronger and more efficient devices and systems.
Stores charge
The mosaic virus used in the experiments infects black-eyed pea plants (Vigna unguiculata), causing their leaves to become mottled and yellow.
Not infectious to humans or animals, the miniscule virus measures just 30 nanometres across - where one nanometre is a billionth of a metre.
"We started to think about the virus particles as nano-building blocks," explained Dr David Evans, a chemist at the John Innes Centre and the lead author on the Small paper.
"Because they have a defined size and a spherical shape, we thought they would be useful particles to use as a template or scaffold in nanotechnology."
Black-eyed peas infected with the virus become mottled and yellow
Usually, when chemists try to make similar-sized molecules, they find it a struggle; but the size of a virus is already predefined.
After isolating a virus particle from the peas, the researchers then bound ferrocene compounds to amino acids on its surface.
The team managed to attach approximately 240 of the organometallic compounds, each containing an electronically active iron atom.
The addition of these compounds meant the nanoparticle became like a molecular capacitor - a device that could store electronic charge, explained Dr Evans.
After further development, this could lead to the particles being used in biosensors, nanoelectronic devices, or for electrocatalytic processes.
The research marks the first foray into nanotechnology for the John Innes plant science research centre.
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| Nanotechnology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Part of a series of articles on
Nanotechnology
History
Implications
Applications
Regulation
Organizations
In fiction and popular culture
List of topics
Subfields and related fields
Nanomaterials
Fullerenes
Carbon nanotubes
Nanoparticles
Nanomedicine
Nanotoxicology
Nanosensor
Molecular self-assembly
Self-assembled monolayer
Supramolecular assembly
DNA nanotechnology
Nanoelectronics
Molecular electronics
Nanocircuitry
Nanolithography
Scanning probe microscopy
Atomic force microscope
Scanning tunneling microscope
Molecular nanotechnology
Molecular assembler
Nanorobotics
Mechanosynthesis
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Nanotechnology, sometimes shortened to nanotech, refers to a field of applied science whose theme is the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures 100 nanometers or smaller, and involves developing materials or devices within that size.
Nanotechnology is an extremely diverse and multidisciplinary field, ranging from novel extensions of conventional device physics, to completely new approaches based upon molecular self-assembly, to developing new materials with dimensions on the nanoscale, or the scale of nothing, even to speculation on whether we can directly control matter on the atomic scale.
There has been much debate on the future implications of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has the potential to create many new materials and devices with wide-ranging applications, such as in medicine, electronics, and energy production. On the other hand, nanotechnology raises many of the same issues as with any introduction of new technology, including concerns about the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials, and their potential effects on global economics, as well as speculation about various doomsday scenarios. These concerns have lead to a debate among advocacy groups and governments on whether special regulation of nanotechnology is warranted.
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