Protein materials endow biological systems with unique capabilities, including tunable control of structural, optical, electrical, self-healing, and thermal properties. We use the self-assembly of tandem repeat peptides with inorganic materials (2d-layered materials) for manufacturing devices inspired by composites observed in Nature. We aim to develop bioengineered molecular materials and devices by combining self-assembly and additive manufacturing with multiple performances. We developed molecular-scale control of inter-layer spacing of composites combined with the nontrivial physics of symmetry breaking. This preliminary research opens a new research direction to tailor and enhance the development of responsive materials capable of sensing, self-repairing, and responding to external stimuli by incorporating biological components. Our work enables a reconfigurable bioinspired system that will provide thermal, mechanical, and optical materials and devices  (e.g., composite layers for ultra-high bioinspired thermal switching, fastest and strongest self-healing, bio-autonomous electronic memory, bioinspired thermo-electric or electro-chemical storage, and thermal-optic dissipation of high-energy fields). By applying the directed evolution of proteins to tune the assembly and spacing of 2D layered materials, we leverage the strengths of both engineered and evolved materials, combing the enhanced transport properties of the former with the mechanical, thermal, and optical properties of the latter.

Biomanufacturing of engineered molecular materials and devices

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ACS Spring 2023

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