Chirally Twisted Ultrathin Polydopamine Nanoribbons: Synthesis and Spontaneous Assembly of Silver Nanoparticles on Them

Abstract

Polydopamine (PDA) is a synthetic polymeric material with immense potential in biomedical and surface functionalization applications. Herein, we have screened self‐assemblies formed by Phenylalanine‐based amphiphiles (Phe‐AMPs) as soft templates for preparing chiral PDA nanostructures. Our study revealed that the amphiphile 2 endowed with a primary amine residue afforded chirally‐twisted ultrathin nanoribbons of PDA under optimized conditions. The chirality at the Phe residue of 2 modulated the twist‐chirality of the PDA nanoribbons; the l‐2 resulted in nanoribbons with right‐handed twist, whereas the d‐2 induced a left‐handed twist to the ribbons. The racemic mixture of these two amphiphiles produced flat, achiral tapes. The PDA ribbon thickness was ≈5.86±0.40 nm, whereas its width and length were ≈133.5±3.2 nm and >5000 nm, respectively. Upon dialysis, hollow PDA nanotubes were obtained due to curling of the PDA nanoribbons. These PDA‐nanoarchitectures were employed to spontaneously form and assemble Ag‐nanoparticles along the edges of the PDA nanoribbons. In this work we are reporting chirality controlled synthesis of PDA nanostructures for the first time.

Strategic Advances in Spatiotemporal Control of Bioinspired Phenolic Chemistries in Materials Science

“…Intriguingly, the resulting structures allowed spontaneous assembly of AgNPs along their edges ( Figure 10C). [42] This study verifies that nucleophilic functional groups such as amines and thiols are useful for controlled synthesis of PDA.…”

“…[37,[205][206][207] One class of such additives are organic molecules that can exert supramolecular interactions to modulate the initial internal interactions. [36,42,208,209] Yu et al introduced folic acid to modulate the formation of PDA nanobelts and nanofibers ( Figure 10A, d). [36] The underlying mechanism was deemed to involve the folic acid-assisted stacking of protomolecules of PDA via π-π effects and hydrogen bonds.…”

“…[41] Implausibly, chiral and twisted nanoribbons have been created leveraging chiral amphiphiles as modulators. [42] Moreover, the preferential growth of PDA has been well exemplified recently to potentiate Janus nano-sheets/particles with anisotropic surface properties, [43][44] as well as to control the folding of reprogrammable DNA origami. [45] Aided by cutting-edge microfabrication technologies, such as photolithography, [46] microcontact printing, [47] and 3D printing, [48] spatially and/or temporally controlled phenolic polymerization/assembly has also become a reality, enabling functional phenolic micropatterns/nanocoatings that are indispensable to fabricate microelectronics, photonics, microdevices, and tissue niches with extensive utilities.…”

“…[ 41 ] Implausibly, chiral and twisted nanoribbons have been created leveraging chiral amphiphiles as modulators. [ 42 ] Moreover, the preferential growth of PDA has been well exemplified recently to potentiate Janus nano‐sheets/particles with anisotropic surface properties, [ 43–44 ] as well as to control the folding of reprogrammable DNA origami. [ 45 ]…”

Enhanced Stability of Peptide Nanofibers Coated with a Conformal Layer of Polydopamine

“…[16] These features afford PDA au nique ability to conformally coat virtually any type of surface. [17,18] In this work, we report that nanofibers formed by the self-assembly of an aphthalenediimide-dilysine peptide( NDI-KK) were stabilized against changes in pH, temperature, and physical processing by the deposition of ac onformal layer of PDA onto the nanofiber surface ( Figure 1). The surfaceo ft he DA/NDI-KK nanofibers weres ubsequently coated with af luorescent, polyelectrolyte polymer.…”