Peptidic ligands to control the three-dimensional self-assembly of quantum rods in aqueous media

Hybrid gold nanoparticle-quantum dot self-assembled nanostructures driven by complementary artificial proteins

Hybrid nanostructures are constructed by the direct coupling of fluorescent quantum dots and plasmonic gold nanoparticles. Self-assembly is directed by the strong affinity between two artificial α-repeat proteins that are introduced in the capping layers of the nanoparticles at a controlled surface density. The proteins have been engineered to exhibit a high mutual affinity, corresponding to a dissociation constant in the nanomolar range, towards the protein-functionalized quantum dots and gold nanoparticles. Protein-mediated self-assembly is evidenced by surface plasmon resonance and gel electrophoresis. The size and the structure of colloidal superstructures of complementary nanoparticles are analyzed by transmission electron microscopy and small angle X-ray scattering. The size of the superstructures is determined by the number of proteins per nanoparticle. The well-defined geometry of the rigid protein complex sets a highly uniform interparticle distance of 8 nm that affects the emission properties of the quantum dots in the hybrid ensembles. Our results open the route to the design of hybrid emitter-plasmon colloidal assemblies with controlled near-field coupling and better optical response.

Photo-electrochemical properties of quantum rods studied by scanning electrochemical microscopy

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) is used for studying the intrinsic photo-electrochemical properties of CdSe/CdS quantum rods.

An aqueous one-pot route to gold/quantum rod heterostructured nanoparticles functionalized with DNA

We report an original approach exploiting the photoelectrochemical properties of quantum rods and the versatility of Au(I) organometallic chemistry to control DNA surface grafting. This one-pot aqueous approach provides Janus biofunctionalized nanoparticles, the assembly of which should results in the emergence of synergistic properties.

Self-Organization of Quantum Rods Induced by Lipid Membrane Corrugations

Self-organization of fluorescent nanoparticles, using biological molecules such as phospholipids to control assembly distances, is a promising method for creating hybrid nanostructures. We report here the formation of hybrid condensed phases made of anisotropic nanoparticles and phospholipids. Such structure formation is driven by electrostatic interaction between the nanoparticles and the phospholipids, and results in the formation of a 2D rectangular liquid crystal, as confirmed by high-resolution Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS). Moreover, we show that the fluorescent properties of the NPs are not modified by the self-assembly process.