Nature-inspired precisely assembled nanotubes
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
@BerkeleyLab
Berkeley Lab scientists discovered a polymer composed of two chemically distinct blocks (shown in orange and blue) that assembles itself into complex nanotubes.
When placed in water, this new family of nature-inspired polymers spontaneously assemble into hollow crystalline nanotubes up to 100 nanometers long with the same diameter.
“Creating uniform structures in high yield is a goal in nanotechnology,” says Ron Zuckermann, who directs the Biological Nanostructures Facility in Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry, where much of this research was conducted. “For example, if you can control the diameter of nanotubes, and the chemical groups exposed in their interior, then you can control what goes through — which could lead to new filtration and desalination technologies, to name a few examples.”
Creating a large quantity of nanostructures with the same trait, such as millions of nanotubes with identical diameters, has been difficult. For the past several years, the Berkeley Lab scientists studied a polymer that is a member of the peptoid family. Peptoids are rugged synthetic polymers that mimic peptides, which nature uses to form proteins.
The researchers studied a particular type of peptoid, called a diblock copolypeptoid, because it binds with lithium ions and could be used as a battery electrolyte. In their research, they serendipitously found these compounds form nanotubes in water. They don’t know how exactly, but the important thing with this new research is that it sheds light on their structure, and hints at a new design principle that could be used to precisely build nanotubes and other complex nanostructures.
Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.kurzweilai.net
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