Cooperative colloidal self-assembly of metal-protein superlattice wires.

Material properties depend critically on the packing and order of constituent units throughout length scales. Beyond classically explored molecular self-assembly, structure formation in the nanoparticle and colloidal length scales have recently been actively explored for new functions. Structure of colloidal assemblies depends strongly on the assembly process, and higher structural control can be reliably achieved only if the process is deterministic.

Chiral Plasmonics Using Twisting along Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Template for Gold Nanoparticles.

The right-handed twist along aqueous dispersed cellulose nanocrystals allows right-handed chiral plasmonics upon electrostatic binding of gold nanoparticles in dilute environment, through tuning the particle sizes and concentrations. Simulations using nanoparticle coordinates from cryo-electron tomography confirm the experimental results. The finding suggests generalization for other chiral and helical colloidal templates for nanoscale chiral plasmonics.