Fabrication of Functional Nanomaterials by Peptide Self-Assembly

The self-assembly of peptide-based building blocks into nanostructures is an attractive route for fabricating novel materials because of their capacity for molecular recognition and functional flexibility as well as the mild conditions required in the fabrication process. Among various peptide-based building blocks forming nanostructures, the simplest building blocks are aromatic dipeptides like diphenylalanine, which can readily self-assemble into nanotubes in aqueous solutions at ambient conditions. Recently, we have developed a high-temperature solid-phase self-assembly process for diphenylalanine. Through this novel process, we succeeded in the growth of vertically well-aligned, uniform nanowires from amorphous peptide thin film. To demonstrate the versatility of our approach, we also fabricated a micropattern of peptide nanowires by combining our solid-phase growth method and simple soft lithographic techniques. We believe that our studies on peptide self-assembly will provide a new horizon for peptide-based nanofabrication.