Peptide self-assembly for functional nanomaterials: synthesis, characterization, and applications

Abstract

The self-assembly of peptide-based building blocks into ordered nanomaterials is drawing great attentions from many researchers because of their close relationship to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, but also to the fabrication of novel nanomaterials. Peptide-based building blocks have unique advantages such as functional flexibility and molecular recognition capability. In this regard, there have been numerous attempts to develop self-assembling peptides since the early 1990s. To date, however, there have been no systematic studies on peptide self-assembly and its applications from the viewpoint of materials science and engineering. In this thesis, the self-assembly of model peptide (i.e., diphenylalanine) and its application is studied from the viewpoint of materials science. Based on the understandings of relationship between processing conditions for peptide self-assembly and structures/properties of self-assembled peptide-based nanomaterials, potential applications of peptide-based nanomaterials/nanostructures are suggested such as syntheses of functional nanomaterials by using peptide nanostructures as a template or incorporating functional molecules within peptide nanostructures. Chapter 2 and 3 describes the solid-phase growth of nanostructures from amorphous thin film of aromatic diphenylalanine peptides. The self-assembly of peptide nanowires depends on both the aging temperature and the nature of the solvent vapor used. Vertically well-aligned crystalline peptide nanowires are synthesized from amorphous peptide thin film by high temperature self-assembly of diphenylalanine under aniline vapor conditions. A simple method to fabricate a micro-pattern of peptide nanowires is suggested by combining soft lithographic technique and high-temperature aniline vapor-aging process. In Chapter 4, the relationship between structure of peptide self-assembled nanomaterials and their stability is investigated by comparing diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes (PNTs) and ...