Terraced self assembled nano-structures from laminarin

The formation of self assembled nano-structures from the biopolymer laminarin dried onto mica is reported. The observed structures are composed of stacked terraced layers decreasing in size away from the mica surface. The layers display a high degree of dimensional regularity as observed using atomic force microscope imaging (AFM). The width of the layers is linearly dependent upon the number of layers in the structure and decreases with layer number away from the mica substrate. The thickness of the layers is uniform throughout the structure. A pore is contained in the central region of each structure with more than one layer. We postulate that these structures have potential use as templates in microelectronic devices and sensors where the central pore has the potential to immobilise functional materials.