title: Peptide-functionalized iron oxide magnetic nanoparticle for gold mining.
abstract: Here, we present our work on preparing a novel nanomaterial composed of inorganic binding peptides and magnetic nanoparticles for inorganic mining. Two previously selected and well-characterized gold-binding peptides from cell surface display, AuBP1 and AuBP2, were exploited. This nanomaterial (AuBP-MNP) was designed to fulfill the following two significant functions: the surface conjugated gold-binding peptide will recognize and selectively bind to gold, while the magnetic nano-sized core will respond and migrate according to the applied external magnetic field. This will allow the smart nanomaterial to mine an individual material (gold) from a pool of mixture, without excessive solvent extraction, filtration, and concentration steps. The working efficiency of AuBP-MNP was determined by showing a dramatic reduction of gold nanoparticle colloid concentration, monitored by spectroscopy. The binding kinetics of AuBP-MNP onto the gold surface was determined using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy, which exhibits around 100 times higher binding kinetics than peptides alone. The binding capacity of AuBP-MNP was demonstrated by a bench-top mining test with gold microparticles. Graphical abstract.
authors.affiliation: Ingenuity Lab, 1-070C, 11421 Saskatchewan Drive NW, T6G 2M9, Edmonton, AB Canada.|Departement of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, T6G 2V4, Edmonton, AB Canada.
authors.forename: Wei-Zheng
authors.initials: WZ
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Ingenuity Lab, 1-070C, 11421 Saskatchewan Drive NW, T6G 2M9, Edmonton, AB Canada.|Departement of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, T6G 2V4, Edmonton, AB Canada.
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cetinel
authors.affiliation: Ingenuity Lab, 1-070C, 11421 Saskatchewan Drive NW, T6G 2M9, Edmonton, AB Canada.|Departement of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, T6G 2V4, Edmonton, AB Canada.
authors.forename: Kumakshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Ingenuity Lab, 1-070C, 11421 Saskatchewan Drive NW, T6G 2M9, Edmonton, AB Canada.|Departement of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, T6G 2V4, Edmonton, AB Canada.
authors.forename: Elham Rafie
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Borujeny
authors.affiliation: Ingenuity Lab, 1-070C, 11421 Saskatchewan Drive NW, T6G 2M9, Edmonton, AB Canada.|Departement of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, T6G 2V4, Edmonton, AB Canada.|National Institute of Nanotechnology, 11421 Saskatchewan Drive NW, T6G 2M9, Edmonton, AB Canada.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Montemagno
keywords: Gold mining; Gold-binding peptide; Magnetic nanoparticles; Nanobiotechnology; Surface functionalization