Synthesis of Peptide-Based Hybrid Nanobelts with Enhanced Color Emission by Heat Treatment or Water Induction

Abstract

We demonstrate that an inorganic lanthanide ion (Tb(3+)) or organic dye molecules were encapsulated in situ into diphenylalanine (FF) organogels by a general, simple, and efficient co-assembly process, which generated peptide-based hybrid nanobelts with a range of colored emissions. In the presence of a photosensitizer (salicylic acid), the organogel can serve as an excellent molecular-donor scaffold to investigate FRET to Tb(3+). More importantly, heat treatment or water induction instigated a morphology transition from nanofibers to nanobelts, after which the participation of guest molecules in the FF assembly was promoted and the stability and photoluminescence emission of the composite organogels were enhanced.

Keywords: fluorescence; nanobelts; organogels; peptides; self-assembly.