Fig. 3.

Hierarchical structure of the superlattice wires. a Measured and calculated structure factor S(q) (n _AuNP/n _TMV ~ 15). a = 23.2 nm is assumed in the calculation. b The squared diffraction peak indices plotted as a function of measured q-values. A linear fit yields a = 23.2 nm. c A cryo-ET density map (left) of a superlattice wire cross section (n _AuNP/n _TMV ≈ 15). The red spheres (right) denote AuNPs that are positioned at local density maxima (right) and form a twisting 2D square lattice with the indicated TMVs. d 3D density isosurface of a selected volume of the cryo-ET reconstruction showing the lattice twist on a nanoparticle level. e A schematic of the superlattice including TMVs. f Cryo-ET reconstruction of a single superlattice wire. g SEM image of a plunge-frozen and freeze-dried superlattice wire. h Cryo-TEM image (magnification of j) of several aligned superlattice domains that wind around each other. Close-up shows (10) and (11) lattice planes. A bifurcating domain is indicated with an arrow. i FFT of h shows maxima for periods of 25 nm, 16.5 nm, 10.5 nm, 8.3 nm, which correspond to (10), (11), (21), and (31) lattice plane distances (vertical direction) and maxima that refer to periods of 16.2 nm and 8.1 nm, which resemble an interparticle distance of 16.2 nm for AuNPs in the aligned rows (horizontal direction). j A low magnification image of a bundle of superlattice wires. k An optical microscope image of superlattice fibers (n _AuNP/n _TMV ~ 10). The close-up highlights winding of fibers. Scale bars: 20 nm c, 100 nm f, 200 nm g, 500 nm h, 2 µm j, 50 µm k