Abstract

A major focus in the current development i nbionanotechnology is to find suitable molecular materials thatare amenable to engineering design. Peptides have recentlyemerged as one of the most promising biomolecular materialsas they spontaneously self-assemble into a wide variety ofnanoscopic and macroscopic structures under appropriateconditions. Moreover by varying experimentally controllablefactors including peptide sequence, concentration, pH andpresence of salt or enzymes, the functionality, geometry andproperties of the resulting materials can be designed andcontrolled for desired biomaterials applications. We willhighlight such behaviour here using a series of ioniccomplementary octa-peptides.