Virus‐Templated Silica Nanoparticles

An engineered variant of the plant virus, Cowpea mosaic virus, can template the controlled fabrication of silica nanoparticles of ≈30-nm diameter under environmentally benign conditions at ambient temperature and in aqueous solvent. This is the first reported mineralization of the external surface of a cage-like viral bionanoparticle (see image). Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.