Obtention of Metallic Nanowires by Protein Biotemplating and Their Catalytic Application

Abstract

Gold nanowires were obtained by a seeded growth process using protein lysozyme fibrils as biotemplates. The degree of metal coverage until full biotemplate coverage onto the fibril was controlled by the gold salt concentration and the number of sequential additions of metal growth solutions. The hybrid fibrils might have a potential use as catalysts since they display enhanced catalytic activity in the reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol by NaBH4.