원문정보
초록
영어
Ever since the pioneering research of Morse and co-workers illustrating the use of Silicatein (a protein derived from marine sponge) in the in vitro synthesis of Titania1, there has been an increasing interest in methods that mimic bio-mineralization due to their advantage in producing inorganics at ambient conditions.TiO2 is commonly used as photo-catalyst due to its non-toxicity, chemical stability, cheapness, and its high efficiency. However, owing to its relatively large band gap (~3.2 eV) its use is limited to the UV light region. By coupling the two metal oxide semiconductors TiO2 and WO3, the reduction of band gap energy can be achieved, which will allow the hybrid to be used in the visible light region.Previously in our group we identified STB1 (-CHKKPSKSC-), a constrained hepta-peptide cognitive of TiO2 through a phage surface display technique,2 and then fused this peptide to the C-terminus of a DNA binding protein LacI to form a designer protein LacI-STB1 which was then subjected to binding tests. Results showed that it has a high affinity for TiO2 nanoparticles.3 In the present study; we used this engineered designer protein to induce the formation of TiO2-WO3 hybrid metal oxide nano-particles. The synthesized hybrid nano-particles were subsequently quantified and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and EDS. Compared to using peptides, this research presents a cheaper method for the bio-mimetic synthesis of hybrid metal oxides.