Structure and photoelectrochemistry of a virus capsid–TiO2 nanocomposite

Abstract

The use of protein templates to direct the formation of inorganic nanostructures offers a novel bio-inspired route to nanomaterial synthesis that avoids the use of harsh reaction conditions and offers unique functionalities including biocompatibility and hierarchical assembly. Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis from total X-ray scattering has been used to determine the structure of TiO₂ nanoparticles grown within an icosahedral virus capsid. The protein–TiO₂ composites are similar to nanocrystalline anatase and show photocatalytic activity. PDF analysis is ideally suited to the study of protein–inorganic nanocomposites, and may be able to provide information about the hard/soft interface.