Self-assembled arrays of peptide nanotubes by vapour deposition

The use of bionanostructures in real-world applications will require precise control over biomolecular self-assembly and the ability to scale up production of these materials(1). A significant challenge is to control the formation of large, homogeneous arrays of bionanostructures on macroscopic surfaces(2-4). Previously, bionanostructure formation has been based on the spontaneous growth of heterogenic populations in bulk solution(1). Here, we demonstrate the self-assembly of large arrays of aromatic peptide nanotubes using vapour deposition methods. This approach allows the length and density of the nanotubes to be fine-tuned by carefully controlling the supply of the building blocks from the gas phase. Furthermore, we show that the nanotube arrays can be used to develop high-surface-area electrodes for energy storage applications, highly hydrophobic self-cleaning surfaces and microfluidic chips.