Formation of well-organized self-assembled films from peptide nanotubes

A method in which PNT-based films can be formed rapidly, and yield stable 2D-ordered structures was demonstrated and centimeter-sized PNT-based films from diphenylalanine (FF) was successfully constructed. The film-formation process involves several controlled steps, including formation of PNTs followed by their dissociation in solution and recrystallization of the PNT under strong nonequilibrium conditions. For the film-deposition stage, different types of surfaces such as SiO₂, Au, Pd, alumina, mica, quartz, InP were exposed to a drop of the PNT-NMP solution at 60°C, dehydrated, and cooled to room temperature. The successful preparation of DNFs and silver-cast PNT films suggests that this formation mechanism could be applied to other film types as well.