Advantages of nanotechnology at the solid-liquid interface

Abstract

Nanotechnology at the solid-liquid interface offers attractive prospects but also poses formidable challenges. Nature has evolved a vast range of functional nanostructures operating in the liquid environment of cells. Such natural nanostructures might be employed as building blocks for artificial nanodevices. To this end novel strategies for nanofabrication need to be developed by taking advantage of basic principles underlying nano-assembly in nature. Here we discuss one such technique, the electrostatically guided attachment of nanoparticles and proteins to localized charges deposited at the solid-liquid interface.