Self-assembled arginine-coated peptide nanosheets in water

Abstract

The surfactant-like peptide (Ala)₆(Arg) is found to self-assemble into 3 nm-thick sheets in aqueous solution. Scanning transmission electron microscopy measurements of mass per unit area indicate a layer structure based on antiparallel dimers. At higher concentration the sheets wrap into unprecedented ultrathin helical ribbon and nanotube architectures.