Ultrathin hybrid films of polyoxohydroxy clusters and proteins: layer-by-layer assembly and their optical and mechanical properties

Langmuir. 2014 May 13;30(18):5248-55. doi: 10.1021/la500434a. Epub 2014 May 1.

Abstract

The hierarchical assembly of inorganic and organic building blocks is an efficient strategy to produce high-performance materials which has been demonstrated in various biomaterials. Here, we report a layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly method to fabricate ultrathin hybrid films from nanometer-scale ionic clusters and proteins. Two types of cationic clusters (hydrolyzed aluminum clusters and zirconium-glycine clusters) were assembled with negatively charged bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein to form high-quality hybrid films, due to their strong electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding. The obtained hybrid films were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV-vis, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results demonstrated that the cluster-protein hybrid films exhibited structural homogeneity, relative transparency, and bright blue fluorescence. More importantly, these hybrid films displayed up to a 70% increase in hardness and up to a 100% increase in reduced Young's modulus compared to the pure BSA film. These hybrid cluster-protein films could be potentially used as biomedical coatings in the future because of their good transparency and excellent mechanical properties.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biocompatible Materials / chemistry*
  • Cattle
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / chemistry
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Polymers
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine