Ultrathin silver nanowires produced by amyloid biotemplating.

By using a self-assembled amyloid from lysozyme as biotemplate we produced an ultrathin silver wire of 1 nm diameter and up to 2 mum in length, which is at the limit attainable in nanobiotechnological manufacturing. We showed that 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol produces a dual effect: it reduces ionic silver to colloidal nanoparticles with a regular size, depending on the length of incubation, and induces fibrillar assembly into the amyloid scaffold, forming the hollow channel filled with silver.