Diphenylalanine-Derivative Peptide Assemblies with Increased Aromaticity Exhibit Metal-like Rigidity and High Piezoelectricity
Vasantha Basavalingappa, Santu Bera, Bin Xue, Joseph O’Donnell, Sarah Guerin, Pierre‐André Cazade, Hui Yuan, Ehtsham Ul Haq, Christophe Silien, Kai Tao, Linda J. W. Shimon, Syed A. M. Tofail, Damien Thompson, Sofiya Kolusheva, Rusen Yang, Yi Cao, Ehud Gazit
Abstract
of ∼73 pC/N of such assembly exceeds that of poled polyvinylidene-fluoride (PVDF) polymers and compares well to that of lead zirconium titanate (PZT) thin films and ribbons. The rationally designed π-π assemblies show a voltage coefficient of 2-3 Vm/N, an order of magnitude higher than PVDF, improved thermal stability up to 360 °C (∼60 °C higher than FF), and useful photoluminescence with wide-range excitation-dependent emission in the visible region. Our data demonstrate that aromatic groups improve the rigidity and piezoelectricity of organic self-assembled materials for numerous applications.