Optical characterization of bio-assembled hybrid nanostructures

Biological systems exemplify the utilization of highly specific recognition processes with a diverse set of building blocks for the synthesis and assembly of precisely defined nanomaterials. Consequently, these specialized biological processes and components are appealing for materials synthesis and have included the use of oligonucleotides, proteins, viruses, and antibodies as the primary organizational element. As a result, we present a peptide for gold reduction and synthesis, antibody recognition, and the antibody mediated assembly of gold/QDot nanostructures through a network of antibody-epitope and streptavidin/biotin interfaces. Optically, these structures exhibited increased quenching of fluorescence dependent on the number of attached gold particles. This was furthermore confirmed and consistent with theoretical calculations of exciton-energy transfer processes involving mixed numbers of gold particles per quantum dot.