Thermal and aqueous stability improvement of graphene oxide enhanced diphenylalanine nanocomposites

• Main Authors: Kate Ryan, Sabine M. Neumayer, Harsha Vardhan R. Maraka, Nicolae-Viorel Buchete, Andrei L. Kholkin, James H. Rice, Brian J. Rodriguez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2017-12-01
• Series: Science and Technology of Advanced Materials
• Subjects: Diphenylalanine; nanocomposites; peptide nanotubes; graphene oxide; aqueous stability
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14686996.2016.1277504

Nanocomposites of diphenylalanine (FF) and carbon based materials provide an opportunity to overcome drawbacks associated with using FF micro- and nanostructures in nanobiotechnology applications, in particular their poor structural stability in liquid solutions. In this study, FF/graphene oxide (GO) composites were found to self-assemble into layered micro- and nanostructures, which exhibited improved thermal and aqueous stability. Dependent on the FF/GO ratio, the solubility of these structures was reduced to 35.65% after 30 min as compared to 92.4% for pure FF samples. Such functional nanocomposites may extend the use of FF structures to e.g. biosensing, electrochemical, electromechanical or electronic applications.