Rodlike virus as a template for inorganic materials such as silica nanorods

What is it about?

Viruses are not just harmful. In this work, rodlike viruses were used as template to direct the growth of some inorganic materials around themselves. Rodlike nanomaterials can thus be easily prepared which can be used as the materials for lithium battery, catalyst, etc.

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Why is it important?

A very simple strategy was exploited to increase the affinity of the virus surface to the inorganic materials of silica. By simply decreasing pH value to such a degree that the surface of the virus becomes positively charged. In this way, the negatively charged silica precursors can be attracted to the surface of the viruses, resulting in silica nanorods. It is very simple and low cost.