Bioinspired Stable and Photoluminescent Assemblies for Power Generation

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201807481
• Publication Date: 2019-02-01T09:45:38Z
• Authors: Kai Tao; Wen Hu; Bin Xue; Drahomir Chovan; Noam Brown; Linda J. W. Shimon; Oguzhan Maraba; Yi Cao; Syed A. M. Tofail; Damien Thompson; Junbai Li; Rusen Yang; Ehud Gazit
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 0104 chemical sciences

Peptide assemblies are ideal components for eco-friendly optoelectronic energy harvesting devices due to their intrinsic biocompatibility, ease of fabrication, and flexible functionalization. However, date, practical applications have been limited the difficulty in obtaining stable, high-performance devices. Here, it is shown that tryptophan-based simplest peptide cyclo-glycine-tryptophan (cyclo-GW) forms mechanically robust (elastic modulus up 24.0 GPa) thermally stable 370 °C monoclinic crystals, a supramolecular packing combining dense parallel β-sheet hydrogen bonding herringbone edge-to-face aromatic interactions. The directional extensive driving forces further confer unique optical properties, including aggregation-induced blue emission unusual photoluminescence. Moreover, crystals produce high sustained open-circuit voltage (1.2 V) piezoelectric coefficient 14.1 pC N-1 . These findings demonstrate feasibility utilizing self-assembling peptides fabrication biointegrated microdevices combine structural stability, tailored optoelectronics, significant properties.