| Various metal and semiconductor nanowires have been developed as building blocks for electronics, optics, and sensors devices. Among these, new nanowires developed on biomolecular templates got more attention since the molecular recognition functions of these biomolecules with specific ligands can be employed to immobilize nanowires onto specific locations to establish desired device geometries. In order for their application in electronics, optics, and sensors device fabrications, after configuring device geometries with nanowires by the biomolecular recognition, we focused upon the biomineralization function of peptides on the nanotemplate sidewall to develop various material coatings such as metals and semiconductors for electronics and sensor applications. It should be noted that the coating morphology such as particle-domain size and inter-particle distance on the nanotemplates could be tuned by peptide sequences and conformations.;We launched the genetically modified recombinant collagen-like triple helix proteins as a biorecognition, size-controlling and rigid biotemplate. This collagen-like triple helix is the genetically engineered polypeptide assembly that contains a fragment from the natural collagen sequence and has attractive features in hybrid nanomaterials. The length of the protein nanowire is uniform since it is determined by the number of amino acids. The length can be flexible if we genetically modify the sequence, which can also add chemical functionality by the genetic engineering procedure. Genetic engineering is more advantageous than the chemical synthesis for the functionalization /deritivization of peptide nanowire because only the desired specific residue of the peptide is functionalized by the genetic approach. The specific sequence can also increase stability so that the mechanical property can be tuned to be suitable for device application in harsh environment. By using the recombinant technology, it is possible to design and amplify a collagen-like triple helix that is monodisperse, easily mineralized with metal/ semiconductor precursors, and therefore can be applied as a rigid biomolecular template for metal/semiconductor nanowire fabrications. Moreover the production of triple helix can be large scaled up by means of the cell multiplication.;As continued work based on previous study of the application of C7 glycylglycine bolaamphiphilic peptide, the self-assembly of doughnut-shaped nanoreactors from monomer peptides with silica precursors was studied, and uniform size silica (SiO2) nanoparticles were obtained. Possible mechanism in terms of chelating and catalysis functions of the peptide was formulated.;Keyword: Collagen-like Triple Helix, Nanowire, Fabrication, Recombinant, Biotemplate. |
