Heterogeneous Microtubules of Self-assembled Silver and Gold Nanoparticles Using Alive Biotemplates

Abstract

Microtubules were constructed by covering the fungus Aspergillus aculeatus sequentially with silver and gold nanoparticles, resulting in a stable hybrid mesostructured material that presented three distinct regions containing different combinations of silver and gold nanoparticles. These heterogeneities were determined by the hyphal growth since the impossibility to cover the dead fungus, which suggests the influence of the secondary metabolites produced by living fungus in the deposition mechanism.

Keywords

• biotemplates
• self assembly
• nanoparticles