skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Self-assembly of nanoparticles into biomimetic capsid-like nanoshells

Journal Article · · Nature Chemistry
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/NCHEM.2641· OSTI ID:1489148
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [7]
  1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Biointerfaces Inst.; Harbin Inst. of Technology (China). Key Lab. of Microsystems and Micronanostructures Manufacturing
  2. Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  3. Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dept. of Structural Biology
  4. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Biointerfaces Inst.; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
  5. Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dept. of Structural Biology and Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  6. Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of Chemistry and Dept. of Biopharmaceutical Sciences
  7. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Biointerfaces Inst.; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Biomedical Engineering; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Nanoscale compartments are one of the foundational elements of living systems. Capsids, carboxysomes, exosomes, vacuoles and other nanoshells easily self-assemble from biomolecules such as lipids or proteins, but not from inorganic nanomaterials because of difficulties with the replication of spherical tiling. Here we show that stabilizer-free polydispersed inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) can spontaneously organize into porous nanoshells. The association of water-soluble CdS NPs into self-limited spherical capsules is the result of scale-modified electrostatic, dispersion and other colloidal forces. They cannot be accurately described by the Derjaguin–Landau–Vervey–Overbeek theory, whereas molecular-dynamics simulations with combined atomistic and coarse-grained description of NPs reveal the emergence of nanoshells and some of their stabilization mechanisms. Morphology of the simulated assemblies formed under different conditions matched nearly perfectly the transmission electron microscopy tomography data. This study bridges the gap between biological and inorganic self-assembling nanosystems and conceptualizes a new pathway to spontaneous compartmentalization for a wide range of inorganic NPs including those existing on prebiotic Earth.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1489148
Journal Information:
Nature Chemistry, Vol. 9, Issue 3; ISSN 1755-4330
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (38)

Spontaneous Organization of Single CdTe Nanoparticles into Luminescent Nanowires journal July 2002
Higher-Order Organization by Mesoscale Self-Assembly and Transformation of Hybrid Nanostructures journal May 2003
Aggregation-Based Crystal Growth and Microstructure Development in Natural Iron Oxyhydroxide Biomineralization Products journal August 2000
Advanced drug delivery devices via self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers journal December 2001
Fast tomographic reconstruction on multicore computers journal December 2010
Unknown Aspects of Self-Assembly of PbS Microscale Superstructures journal April 2012
Self-Assembled Nanoreactors as Highly Active Catalysts in the Hydrolytic Kinetic Resolution (HKR) of Epoxides in Water journal February 2006
Self-assembly of self-limiting monodisperse supraparticles from polydisperse nanoparticles journal August 2011
Cascade Reactions in Multicompartmentalized Polymersomes journal November 2013
Synthesis of cadmium sulphide superlattices using self-assembled bacterial S-layers journal October 1997
Light-Controlled Self-Assembly of Semiconductor Nanoparticles into Twisted Ribbons journal February 2010
Formation of Colloidal CuO Nanocrystallites and Their Spherical Aggregation and Reductive Transformation to Hollow Cu 2 O Nanospheres journal February 2005
Mature HIV-1 capsid structure by cryo-electron microscopy and all-atom molecular dynamics journal May 2013
Architecture and material properties of diatom shells provide effective mechanical protection journal February 2003
Formation of Hollow Nanocrystals Through the Nanoscale Kirkendall Effect journal April 2004
Ultrahigh stress and strain in hierarchically structured hollow nanoparticles journal October 2008
Metal Nanostructures with Hollow Interiors journal April 2003
Nonadditivity of nanoparticle interactions journal October 2015
Signals from the lysosome: a control centre for cellular clearance and energy metabolism journal April 2013
Hydrothermal Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of Zinc Oxide Hollow Spheres journal July 2008
A "Double-Diamond Superlattice" Built Up of Cd17S4(SCH2CH2OH)26 Clusters journal March 1995
Cryo-electron tomography: 3-dimensional imaging of soft matter journal January 2011
Vesicles and Liposomes: A Self-Assembly Principle Beyond Lipids journal August 2003
Self-limited self-assembly of nanoparticles into supraparticles: towards supramolecular colloidal materials by design journal January 2016
Prokaryotic photosynthesis and phototrophy illuminated journal November 2006
Self-Assembly of CdTe Nanocrystals into Free-Floating Sheets journal October 2006
Virus shapes and buckling transitions in spherical shells journal November 2003
Nanoshell-mediated near-infrared thermal therapy of tumors under magnetic resonance guidance journal November 2003
Noise Reduction in Electron Tomographic Reconstructions Using Nonlinear Anisotropic Diffusion journal September 2001
Atomic-Level Models of the Bacterial Carboxysome Shell journal February 2008
What Is the Effective Charge of TGA-Stabilized CdTe Nanocolloids? journal May 2005
Monoparticulate Layer and Langmuir-Blodgett-Type Multiparticulate Layers of Size-Quantized Cadmium Sulfide Clusters: A Colloid-Chemical Approach to Superlattice Construction journal March 1994
Papillomavirus L1 major capsid protein self-assembles into virus-like particles that are highly immunogenic. journal December 1992
UCSF Chimera?A visualization system for exploratory research and analysis journal January 2004
Computer Visualization of Three-Dimensional Image Data Using IMOD journal January 1996
The origin of life—a review of facts and speculations journal December 1998
Monte Carlo Computer Simulation of Chain Formation from Nanoparticles journal April 2006
Nanoengineering of Inorganic and Hybrid Hollow Spheres by Colloidal Templating journal November 1998

Similar Records

Programming Amphiphilic Peptoid Oligomers for Hierarchical Assembly and Inorganic Crystallization
Journal Article · Mon Nov 02 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Accounts of Chemical Research · OSTI ID:1489148
Multicomponent Protein Cage Architectures for Photocatalysis
Technical Report · Mon Jan 04 00:00:00 EST 2016 · OSTI ID:1489148
Single- and multi-component chiral supraparticles as modular enantioselective catalysts
Journal Article · Wed Oct 23 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Nature Communications · OSTI ID:1489148
+4 more

Related Subjects