Silver Nanowires

I was reading an article in C&EN about a cell phone that Nokia wants to produce that is made out of protein and stumbled on something really cool. Some proteins, in high enough concentrations, can spontaneously form long fibers (called amyloid fibrils) that are ultra thin. In humans, when this happens it often causes diseases like Alzheimer’s, but there are other uses too (spider webs are an example).

The article mentioned an Israeli scientist, Ehud Gazit, who used this process to construct the thinnest piece of wire ever. He made a hollow tube out of the proteins and then added a solution of silver. A wire formed inside of the tube, and then he digested the protein with an enzyme. Incredible.

~ by Yuri Guri on July 30, 2008.