Engineered Nano-Structured Virus/ZnO Hybrid Materials with Dedicated Functional Properties

摘要： Bio-inspired mineralization for the production of new functional materials offers mild reaction conditions suitable to integrate biological templates and build hierarchically organized hybrid nanostructures with defined properties. In this respect, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) stands out due to its unique structural dimensions. Here, we present a novel mineralization pathway for synthesis of virus-based ZnO hybrids with multifunctional properties. Wild-type TMV (wt-TMV), two TMV mutants (E50Q and TMV-Cys) and amino-functionalized self-assembled monolayers (NH2-SAMs), as a reference, were used as templates. This mineralization approach allows control of the particle size of the inorganic phase. Further, the virus contributes additionally to the texturing of ZnO. Field effect transistors (FETs) built from the hybrid films showed reproducible results at optimized conditions at close to ambient conditions and without post-treatment. The significantly reduced threshold voltage of the E50Q/ZnO FET compared to NH2-SAMs/ZnO FET points to the impact of the organic template on FET performance. Nacre-like virus-based ZnO multilayers and corresponding monolithic references were prepared. The mechanical properties by means of Young’s modulus, hardness and fracture toughness were determined and an increase of the mechanical performance by genetic modification was observed.