Gold Nanoshell Assembly on a Ferritin Protein Employed as a Bio-Template

Gold nanoshells around 26 nm in diameter with a 7 nm thick wall were fabricated in an aqueous solution using pre-reconstituted ferritin proteins as a removable bio-template. The synthesis of gold nanoshells was initiated by planting gold nanoparticle seeds in the hydrophilic three-fold channels of the ferritin protein. The process was facilitated by the energetically favorable gold-sulfur bonds formed at the cysteine residues lining these channels.