Extended Plasmonic Nanostructures Templated by Tobacco Mosaic Virus Coat Protein

Optical and magnetic metamaterials possess interesting properties that cannot be achieved with conventional materials. However, there is currently no synthetic method offering both scalability and nanometer spatial precision. Biotemplating is a promising technique that has the potential to organize nanoscale components with high precision while being scalable and low-cost. Here, we demonstrate a versatile template using hexahistidine-tagged tobacco mosaic virus coat protein. The protein self-assembles into disks, which further assemble into extended nanostructures under mild conditions. Large sheets with either hexagonal or square packing and core-shell nanorods are formed, and gold nanoparticles are attached to the disks within each nanostructure to form assemblies of nanoparticle rings.