Aggregation-free optical and colorimetric detection of Hg(II) with M13 bacteriophage-templated Au nanowires

An optical and colorimetric biosensor comprising gold nanowires (Au NWs) templated with genetically engineered M13 bacteriophages expressing a specific Au binding peptides tyrosine-glutamic acid-glutamic acid-glutamic acid (Y3E) is fabricated by silver nitrate and surfactant-mediated biomineralization process. The diameter of the Y3E-Au NWs is around 10 nm and an oriented growth mechanism is identified for the continuous growth of the NWs by interconnecting M13 bacteriophages. The flexible Au NWs have formed an enriched Hg(II) binding sites on its surface and the surface-coated silver nanophase functions as a receptor for more efficient Hg(II) binding. Amalgamation-based colorimetric and optical Hg(II) biosensing of Au NWs are scrutinized in the presence of wild-type M13 bacteriophage-templated Au NWs and spherical Au nanoparticles. It is demonstrated that in comparison with the spherical Au nanoparticles, Y3E-Au NWs exhibits an aggregation-free optical and colorimetric sensor for Hg(II). Mechanistic investigation for the aggregation-free sensor and the Au-Hg amalgam crystals are carried out using TEM, STEM-EDX and XPS analyses.