SP1 based self-assembled selective molecular nanochannels

Controlling the permeability and porosity of an inorganic layer using biomolecule building blocks has raised interest for nanotechnological applications. The challenge lies mostly in the fabrication, usually a long, expensive and tedious process, involving many steps. Using biomaterials for this purpose is highly appealing; due to both ease of fabrication and the final output, that contains a bioelement. The biomolecule, specifically, stable protein 1 (SP1), serving as the scaffold for our pattern, is of great stability and durability, and presents size, charge and structural selectivity towards electroactive species. Here, we demonstrate the ability of SP1 to form a rigid template within a sol-gel matrix, allowing selective electron transfer to the gold electrode. Specifically, a thiolated SP1 was first adsorbed on a gold surface followed by filling the non-occupied areas by sol-gel. The latter was electrochemically deposited. The various steps were carefully characterized. Finally, we studied the electrochemistry of numerous redox couple at the Au/SP1/sol-gel interface and found that the nanochannel array shows charge and structural selectivity, which is based on the interactions between the redox species and the functionalities of SP1. The resulted surface shows promise towards electrochemical sensing applications.