TY - JOUR
T1 - Protein Self-Assemblies That Can Generate, Hold, and Discharge Electric Potential in Response to Changes in Relative Humidity
AU - Carter, Nathan A.
AU - Grove, Tijana Z.
PY - 2018/6/13
Y1 - 2018/6/13
N2 - Generation of electric potential upon external stimulus has attracted much attention for the development of highly functional sensors and devices. Herein, we report large-displacement, fast actuation in the self-assembled engineered repeat protein Consensus Tetratricopeptide Repeat protein (CTPR18) materials. The ionic nature of the CTPR18 protein coupled to the long-range alignment upon self-assembly results in the measured conductivity of 7.1 × 10-2 S cm-1, one of the highest reported for protein materials. The change of through-thickness morphological gradient in the self-assembled materials provides the means to select between faster, highly water-sensitive actuation or vastly increased mechanical strength. Tuning of the mode of motion, e.g., bending, twisting, and folding, is achieved by changing the morphological director. We further show that the highly ionic character of CTPR18 gives rise to piezo-like behavior in these materials, exemplified by low-voltage, ionically driven actuation and mechanically driven generation/discharge of voltage. This work contributes to our understanding of the emergence of stimuli-responsiveness in biopolymer assemblies.
AB - Generation of electric potential upon external stimulus has attracted much attention for the development of highly functional sensors and devices. Herein, we report large-displacement, fast actuation in the self-assembled engineered repeat protein Consensus Tetratricopeptide Repeat protein (CTPR18) materials. The ionic nature of the CTPR18 protein coupled to the long-range alignment upon self-assembly results in the measured conductivity of 7.1 × 10-2 S cm-1, one of the highest reported for protein materials. The change of through-thickness morphological gradient in the self-assembled materials provides the means to select between faster, highly water-sensitive actuation or vastly increased mechanical strength. Tuning of the mode of motion, e.g., bending, twisting, and folding, is achieved by changing the morphological director. We further show that the highly ionic character of CTPR18 gives rise to piezo-like behavior in these materials, exemplified by low-voltage, ionically driven actuation and mechanically driven generation/discharge of voltage. This work contributes to our understanding of the emergence of stimuli-responsiveness in biopolymer assemblies.
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U2 - 10.1021/jacs.8b02663
DO - 10.1021/jacs.8b02663
M3 - Article
C2 - 29772896
AN - SCOPUS:85047393648
VL - 140
SP - 7144
EP - 7151
JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society
JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society
SN - 0002-7863
IS - 23
ER -