Nanotechnology appears to be an unstoppable trend and it requires defined nanoscale building blocks and patterns.
"A typical difficulty with the synthesis of nanostructures is the modification of nanoscale objects at specific positions" says Alexander Bittner, whose work with a team from the Max Planck Institute for Solid-State Research in Stuttgart and Christina Wege's research team at the University of Stuttgart has led to an important breakthrough.
As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the scientists were successful in selectively modifying the ends of nanoscale rods by selectively binding gold nanoparticles to the ends of tubular viruses. By using an electroless gold-plating technique, the gold ends can be enlarged to form dumbbell-shaped structures.