Virus‐Based Alignment of Inorganic, Organic, and Biological Nanosized Materials

Abstract

A self‐ordering system based on anti‐streptavidin viruses is presented. A variety of materials, including inorganic nanoparticles, small organic molecules, and large biomolecules, can be organized at the nanometer length scale using this method. Molecular recognition is used to bind nanosize materials (e.g., gold nanoparticles) to the virus (see cover) and the resulting complex spontaneously evolves into a self‐supporting hybrid film (see Figure).