Creating regular arrays of nanoparticles with self-assembling protein building blocks

Large planar assemblies of nanoscale protein building blocks can serve as templates for the nanopatterning of inorganic materials. Organically coated quantum dots and gold nanoparticles have been electrostatically adsorbed onto naturally occurring protein lattices to produce highly regular arrays. Engineered protein lattices displaying defined attachment sites for covalent or tight non-covalent nanoparticle coupling offer additional flexibility to achieve new particle geometries and lattice spacings.