A facile route for shape-selective synthesis of silica nanostructures using poly-l-lysine as template

A facile method for the shape-selective synthesis of silica nanostructures using a reverse-microemulsion-mediated template (RMMT) technique is reported. In this method, positive poly-l-lysine (PLL) is selected as template due to its configuration diversity. By adjusting pH and concentration, PLL demonstrates various secondary structures containing random coil, α-helix and β-sheet, which result in the formation of silica nanorods, silica nanospheres and silica nanotubes in the reverse-microemulsion system, respectively. Thus, the shape-selective synthesis of silica nanostructures might be achieved by using PLL as structural template in the reverse-microemulsion system.

Graphical abstractA facile method for the shape-selective synthesis of silica nanostructures using a reverse-microemulsion-mediated template (RMMT) technique is reported. The rod-like, spherical and tubular silica structures can be synthesized with random coil, α-helix and β-sheet structures as template, respectively.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide