Fabrication of nanoporous material from a hydrophobic peptide

Abstract

A pentapeptide containing hydrophobic residues self-assembles to form nonporous materials in solid state. The X-ray crystallography reveals that there is no pore in the crystal and the peptide exhibits supramolecular helical architecture prompted by the formation of intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds. But the phase-selective gelation of the peptide from xylene–water leads to the formation of nanoporous material with different internal diameter. The field emission scanning electron micrographs (FE-SEM) show that the average pore size is in the range of 20 to 50 nm. Moreover, the nanoporous xerogel can efficiently adsorb I₂ and remove organic dyes from wastewater.