Peptide programming of supramolecular vinylidene fluoride ferroelectric phases

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Yang, Yang; Sai, Hiroaki; Egner, Simon A.; Qiu, Ruomeng; Palmer, Liam C.; Stupp, Samuel I.
• 署名单位: Northwestern University; Northwestern University; Northwestern University; Northwestern University; Northwestern University; Northwestern University
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-4349
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08041-4
• 发表日期: 2024-10-01
• 页码: 833-+
• 关键词: room-temperature ferroelectricity; BEHAVIOR; amphiphile; piezoelectricity; polarization; nanofibers; forms; films

摘要

Ferroelectric structures have spontaneous macroscopic polarization that can be inverted using external electric fields and have potential applications including information storage, energy transduction, ultralow-power nanoelectronics(1,2) and biomedical devices(3). These functions would benefit from nanoscale control of ferroelectric structure, the ability to switch polarization with lower applied fields (low coercive field) and biocompatibility. Soft ferroelectrics based on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)(4-6) have a thermodynamically unstable ferroelectric phase in the homopolymer, complex semi-crystalline structures, and high coercive fields. Here we report on ferroelectric materials formed by water-soluble molecules containing only six VDF repeating units covalently conjugated to a tetrapeptide, with the propensity to assemble into the beta-sheet structures that are ubiquitous in proteins. This led to the discovery of ribbon-shaped ferroelectric supramolecular assemblies that are thermodynamically stable with their long axes parallel to both the preferred hydrogen-bonding direction of beta-sheets and the bistable polar axes of VDF hexamers. Relative to a commonly used ferroelectric copolymer, the biomolecular assemblies exhibit a coercive field that is two orders of magnitude lower, as the result of supramolecular dynamics, and a similar level of remnant polarization, despite having a peptide content of 49wt%. Furthermore, the Curie temperature of the assemblies is about 40 degrees C higher than that of a copolymer containing a similar amount of VDF. This supramolecular system was created using a biologically inspired strategy that is attractive in terms of sustainability and that could lead to new functions for soft ferroelectrics.