Deposition of zinc oxide and layered basic zinc salts from aqueous solutions containing amino acids and dipeptides

Deposition experiments from aqueous solutions of zinc nitrate were performed in a bio-inspired way using biomolecules as directing agents. A global overview of the effect of various amino acids (8) and dipeptides (21) was done in term of structure and morphology of the obtained coating. The selection of certain biomolecules leads to the formation of smooth ZnO thin films. Variations of the amino acid chemical function and the sequence used within the peptides combination give rise to a wide variety of morphologies ranging from films to three dimensional nets. The data obtained from scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction are discussed and correlated to the chemical properties of the biomolecules.