A bifunctional peptide containing a domain that targets cell nuclei and a domain with the ability to biomineralize and capture Au clusters is presented. The peptide-Au clusters exhibit red emission (λ(em) = 677 nm) and specifically stain the nuclei of three cell lines.

The artificial peptide with amino acid sequence CCYRGRKKRRQRRR was used to biomineralize serial Ag clusters. Under different alkaline conditions, clusters with red and blue emission were biomineralized by the peptide, respectively. The matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectra implied that the red-emitting cluster sample was composed of Ag(28), while the blue-emitting cluster sample was composed of Ag(5), Ag(6), and Ag(7). The UV-visible absorption and infrared spectra revealed that the peptide phenol moiety reduced Ag(+) ions and that formed Ag clusters were captured by peptide thiol moieties. The phenol reduction potential was controlled by the alkalinity and played an important role in determining the Ag cluster size. Circular dichroism observations suggested that the alkalinity tuned the peptide secondary structure, which may also affect the Ag cluster size.

It is urgent to seek high performance solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) via a facile chemistry and simple process. The lithium salts are composed of complex anions that are stabilized by a Lewis acid agent. This Lewis acid can initiate the ring opening polymerization. Herein, a self‐catalyzed strategy toward facile synthesis of crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether‐based solid polymer electrolyte (C‐PEGDE) is presented. It is manifested that the poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether‐based solid polymer electrolyte possesses a superior electrochemical stability window up to 4.5 V versus Li/Li+ and considerable ionic conductivity of 8.9 × 10−5 S cm−1 at ambient temperature. Moreover, the LiFePO4/C‐PEGDE/Li batteries deliver stable charge/discharge profiles and considerable rate capability. It is demonstrated that this self‐catalyzed strategy can be a very effective approach for high performance solid polymer electrolytes.