Self-assembly of diphenylalanine peptide with controlled polarization for power generation

Abstract

Peptides have attracted considerable attention due to their biocompatibility, functional molecular recognition and unique biological and electronic properties. The strong piezoelectricity in diphenylalanine peptide expands its technological potential as a smart material. However, its random and unswitchable polarization has been the roadblock to fulfilling its potential and hence the demonstration of a piezoelectric device remains lacking. Here we show the control of polarization with an electric field applied during the peptide self-assembly process. Uniform polarization is obtained in two opposite directions with an effective piezoelectric constant d33 reaching 17.9 pm V−1. We demonstrate the power generation with a peptide-based power generator that produces an open-circuit voltage of 1.4 V and a power density of 3.3 nW cm−2. Devices enabled by peptides with controlled piezoelectricity provide a renewable and biocompatible energy source for biomedical applications and open up a portal to the next generation of multi-functional electronics compatible with human tissue.

Modulation of Peptide Based Nano-Assemblies with Electric and Magnetic Fields

“…The crystal structure of FF exhibits a non-centrosymmetric hexagonal space group (P6 1 ) 1, 11 , which allows it to possess properties like piezoelectricity 12, 13 , optical activity 14, 15 and ferroelectricity 16 . Due to its low dimensional highly ordered structure it also exhibits quantum confinement 17 , forming quantum dots 18 .…”

Nanocrystalline Cellulose for Anisotropic Magnetoelectric Composites

“…For example, the highest α ME reported so far is observed in a polymer ME laminate combining chain‐end crosslinking functionalized poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐trifluoroethylene), with a high‐performance magnetostrictive film, Metglas . Accordingly, due to their high α ME , poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its copolymers have almost exclusively been used in polymer‐based ME composites and this remains the current situation despite an inventory of unexplored piezoelectric polymers such as naturally occurring biomolecules that were first demonstrated only recently by our group . In this work, regenerated cellulose in ME composites exhibited a giant α ME (>1 V cm −1 Oe −1 ) under relatively weak magnetic field, leading to the discovery of new fundamental ME properties as well as access to cheap, renewable, and degradable materials for the development of ME devices .…”

Piezoelectric peptide-based nanogenerator enhanced by single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator

“…© 2017 Author(s Piezoelectric bio-inspired materials have emerged as promising candidates for electromechanical energy conversion thanks to their biocompatibility, versatility, and mild synthesis processes. [1][2][3] Among them, diphenylalanine (FF) peptide has attracted increasing research interest due to its strong piezoelectric coefficient and the ability to produce parallel electrical dipoles. 2,4,5 Although the nanogenerator (NG) fabricated from FF peptide showed significant improvement in performance compared to other bio-inspired materials, new techniques to enhance the output are needed to expand its applications.…”

“…Electronic mail: yangr@umn.edu First, an FF microrod array was fabricated using our previously reported epitaxial growth process. 2,12 Briefly, the crystalline seed film with vertically aligned domains was obtained by placing an amorphous FF gel film in vigorously circulated moist air. This step was followed by putting the seed film in a saturated FF water solution at 55°C for epitaxial growth.…”

“…Throughout this process, an electric field was applied to obtain uniform polarization. The size of the obtained microrod array is 1.25 × 1.25 cm 2 . The FF-based PENG was fabricated by putting another 1.25 × 1.25 cm 2 gold-coated silicon substrate on the top of the microrod array.…”