Study: Living Bacteria Can Make Nanotubes

U.S. and South Korean scientists have found semiconducting nanotubes produced by living bacteria might help in creating new nanoelectronic devices.

Researchers at the University of California-Riverside and South Korea’s Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology believe their study marks the first time nanotubes have been shown to be produced by biological, rather than chemical, means.

The team, including UCR Associate Professor Nosang Myung and postdoctoral researcher Bongyoung Yoo, found the bacterium Shewanella facilitates the formation of arsenic-sulfide nanotubes that have unique physical and chemical properties not produced by chemical agents.

We have shown that a jar with a bug in it can create potentially useful nanostructures, Myung said. "Nanotubes are of particular interest in materials science because the useful properties of a substance can be finely tuned according to the diameter and the thickness of the tubes.

This is just a first step that points the way to future investigation, he added. Each species of Shewanella might have individual implications for manufacturing properties.

The study that included Hor Gil Hur and Ji-Hoon Lee from the Gwangju Institute appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.