Synthesis of triangular silver and gold nanoprisms using consensus sequence tetratricopeptide repeat proteins

Abstract

Anisotropic metallic nanoparticles, such as Au and Ag nanoprisms (NPSMs), have received tremendous attention for their application in catalysis, molecular sensing, signal amplification, bioimaging, and therapeutic applications due to their shape-dependent optical and physical properties. Herein, we present a protein-enabled synthetic strategy for the seeded growth of silver and gold NPSMs with low shape polydispersity, narrow size distribution, and tailored plasmonic absorbance. During the initial seed nucleation step, consensus sequence tetratricopeptide repeat (CTPR) proteins are utilized as potent stabilizers to facilitate the formation of planar-twinned Ag seeds. High yield production of well-defined Ag/Au NPSMs is achieved, respectively, by adding CTPR-stabilized Ag seeds into the growth solutions containing metal precursor, mild reducing agent, sodium halide, and additional CTPR.