Energy harvesting with peptide nanotube-graphene oxide flexible substrates prepared with electric field and wettability assisted self-assembly

Piezoelectric diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes (PNTs) have recently been demonstrated in energy harvesting applications, typically based on vertically aligned PNTs that generate charge when pressed. In this work, we use a wettability difference and an applied electric field to align PNTs and PNT-based composites on flexible substrates. Open-circuit voltages and short-circuit currents exceeding 6V and 60nA, respectively, are achieved by bending the substrate, opening up the use of horizontally aligned PNTs as flexible energy harvesting substrates. Published under license by AIP Publishing.