Ferroelectric and Related Phenomena in Biological and Bioinspired Nanostructures

Abstract

We review ferroelectric and related phenomena in biological materials. Also the results of the study of peptide nanotubes (PNT), which are formed by self-assembly of aromatic peptides building blocks, are presented. We describe a new preparation process for making highly ordered alignments of PNT by vapor deposition of bio-molecules. The conducted optical studies show that PNTs possess nanocrystalline ceramics structure, characterized by quantum confinement and pronounced luminescence of exciton origin. PNTs demonstrate strong second harmonic generation based on their hexagonal asymmetric structure. This bio-inspired ceramic nanostructural material shows strong piezoelectric activity, pointing to electric polarization directed along the tube axis.

Keywords:

• Peptide nanotubes
• piezoelectricity
• ferroelectricity
• self-assembly