Playing “Nano -Lego ”: VNPs as Building Blocks for the Construction of Multi -Dimensional Arrays - Viral Nanoparticles: Tools for Materials Science and Biomedicine - page 169

Chapter

PLAYING “NANO-LEGO”: VNPs AS BuIldIng
BloCKS For the ConStruCtIon oF
MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS

of viral nanoparticles
(VNPs) by chemical modification, encapsulation, and mineralization. Now,
in order to be useful for functional devices, these functionalized VNPs must
be incorporated into other materials, immobilized onto solid supports, or
ordered into films or arrays. Films and arrays of nanoparticles are of great
importance. The trend, especially in the electronic industry, is to miniaturize
devices. A common example is the

The previous chapters discussed the functionalization

iPod Nano , the smaller version of Apple's

iPod. In order to manufacture such miniaturized devices, while maintaining

efficiency and high-quality performance, smaller building blocks such
as wires or data storage chips, are required. Recent developments in
nanotechnology, such as viral nanotechnology, have led to the development
of materials with high potential for the development of such miniaturized
devices. The potential of VNP building blocks for manufacturing battery
electrodes, for example, has been shown.
This chapter describes various approaches that allow immobilization of
VNPs on surfaces, and strategies in which VNPs have been used as building
blocks for the construction of arrays. A range of VNPs have been bound
and immobilized onto surfaces. Icosahedral VNPs have been utilized as
construction material to fabricate 1D and 2D arrays as well as multi-layered
arrays (toward 3D structures). The rods have been used to generate 1D
wires, bundles, nanorings, and 2D films.

.1 the dIMenSIonS

In mathematics, the term refers to the number of coordinates

required to locate a point in space. From this viewpoint and for the purposes

dimension