Guerin_2021_Molecular.pdf (18.88 MB)
Molecular engineering of piezoelectricity in collagen-mimicking peptide assemblies
journal contribution
posted on 2022-12-13, 11:12 authored by Santu Bera, Sarah Guerin, Hui Yuan, Joseph O'Donnell, Nicholas P. Reynolds, Oğuzhan Maraba, Wei Ji, Linda J. W. Shimon, Pierre-André Cazade, SYED ANSAR TOFAILSYED ANSAR TOFAIL, DAMIEN THOMPSONDAMIEN THOMPSON, Rusen Yang, Ehud GazitRealization of a self-assembled, nontoxic and eco-friendly piezoelectric device with
high-performance, sensitivity and reliability is highly desirable to complement conventional
inorganic and polymer based materials. Hierarchically organized natural materials such as
collagen have long been posited to exhibit electromechanical properties that could potentially be amplified via molecular engineering to produce technologically relevant piezoelectricity. Here, by using a simple, minimalistic, building block of collagen, we fabricate a peptide-based piezoelectric generator utilising a radically different helical arrangement of Phe-Phe-derived peptide, Pro-Phe-Phe and Hyp-Phe-Phe, based only on proteinogenic amino acids. The simple addition of a hydroxyl group increases the expected piezoelectric response by an order of magnitude (d35 = 27 pm V−1 ). The value is highest predicted to date in short natural peptides. We demonstrate tripeptide-based power generator that produces stable max current >50 nA and potential >1.2 V. Our results provide a promising device demonstration of computationally-guided molecular engineering of piezoelectricity in peptide nanotechnology
Funding
Study on Aerodynamic Characteristics Control of Slender Body Using Active Flow Control Technique
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
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Publication
Nature Communications;12, 2634Publisher
Nature ResearchNote
peer-reviewedOther Funding information
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Horizon 2020, SFI, Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC), ERCLanguage
EnglishAlso affiliated with
- Bernal Institute
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- Physics
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