Peptide templates for nanoparticle synthesis derived from polymerase chain reaction-driven phage display

Phage peptide display libraries are commonly used to select peptides that bind to inorganic surfaces (metals, metal oxides, and semiconductors). These binding peptides can serve as templates to control the nucleation and growth of inorganic nanoparticles in vitro. In this report, we describe the identification of a unique set of sequences that bind to silver and cobalt nanoparticles from a phage peptide display library using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-driven method. The amino acid sequences obtained by the PCR method are a distinct set of sequences that would otherwise be missed using the regular panning method. Peptides identified by the method described here are also shown to function as templates for the synthesis of silver and cobalt platinum nanoparticles.