• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1969-1972
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• 2008

In this study, horse spleen apoferritins were induced to form biominerals using up to 3000 Fe atoms per protein molecule. The morphology and crystallinity of the nanometer-sized biominerals formed in the ferritins were then analyzed using field emission-energy filtering-transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM). The ferritins were found to have reconstitution yields of 60-70% in the experiments. The mean core size of the ferritins varied somewhat with protein concentrations, indicating that crystal growth in ferritins could be controlled via protein concentrations. The core mineral size increased with the amount of Fe used. Lattice fringes of the core, associated with good crystallinity, were found in all samples. The lattice fringe images of a single domain ferrihydrite mineral appeared frequently in the (011) planes (d-spacing of 0.246 nm) under [100] zone axis in all samples of this study. In addition, the lattice image occasionally revealed fringes corresponding to the (100) planes (d = 0.254 nm) from the [001] zone axis, indicating the characteristic pattern of hexagonal crystal lattice. Diffraction patterns in the minerals identified as ferrihydrite were fitted well into the space group of $P3_{1c}$.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.605-616
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• 2022

We prepared two samples of ultrafine ferrihydrite (FH) nanoparticle ensembles of quite a different origin. First is the biosynthesized sample (as a product of the vital activity of bacteria Klebsiella oxytoca (hereinafter marked as FH-bact) with a natural organic coating and negligible magnetic interparticle interactions. And the second one is the chemically synthesized ferrihydrite (hereinafter FH-chem) without any coating and high level of the interparticle interactions. The interparticle magnetic interactions have been tuned by modifying the nanoparticle surface in both samples. The coating of the FH-bact sample has been partially removed by annealing at 150℃ for 24 h (hereinafter FH-annealed). The FH-chem sample, vice versa, has been coated (1.0 g) with biocompatible polysaccharide (arabinogalactan) in an ultrasonic bath for 10 min (hereinafter FH-coated). The changes in the surface properties of nanoparticles have been controlled by XPS. According to the electron microscopy data, the modification of the nanoparticle surface does not drastically change the particle shape and size. A change in the average nanoparticle size in sample FH-annealed to 3.3 nm relative to the value in the other samples (2.6 nm) has only been observed. The estimated particle coating thickness is about 0.2-0.3 nm for samples FH-bact and FH-coated and 0.1 nm for sample FH-annealed. Mössbauer and magnetization measurements are definitely shown that the drastic change in the blocking temperature is caused by the interparticle interactions. The experimental temperature dependences of the hyperfine field hf>(T) for samples FH-bact and FH-coated have not revealed the effect of interparticle interactions. Otherwise, the interparticle interaction energy E_int estimated from the hf>(T) for samples FH-chem and FH-annealed has been found to be 121k_B and 259k_B, respectively.