MURI: Surface-templated bio-inspired synthesis and fabrication of functional materials

Abstract

: The use of biosynthons and bio-inspired assembly is a new, but extremely powerful approach to the synthesis of designer materials. The development of new methods for patterning biological molecules on the nanometer to micron length scale will lead to new biomaterials that can be used for fabricating a variety of nanostructured organic and inorganic materials that are of vital importance to the Department of Defense. These include catalytic peptide tubes, host-guest materials for molecular separations, quantum dot and magnetic particle arrays, bio-nanocircuitry, photonic bandgap and 3-D power structures, and novel bio-warfare detection materials. This grant has pursued an integrated research effort that has focused on 3 thematic areas of research: (1) biocompatible nanolithography methods for patterning and templating of 2-D and 3-D nanostructured materials; (2) nucleic acid-based approaches to preparing extended functional architectures both in solution and from predesigned, nanostructured surface templates, and (3) protein-based or inspired architectures. The highlights of our accomplishments are featured in the following report.