Fabrication of Peptide Self-assembled Monolayer on Mica Surface and its Application in Atomic Force Microscopy Nanolithography

Title:Fabrication of Peptide Self-assembled Monolayer on Mica Surface and its Application in Atomic Force Microscopy Nanolithography

Volume: 10 Issue: 2

Author(s): Zhihua Xing, Yongzhu Chen, Chengkang Tang, Xiaoqiang Gong and Feng Qiu

Affiliation:

Keywords: Micelles, monomers, nanolithography, nanopatterns, self-assembled monolayer, self-assembling peptide.

Abstract: Self-assembled monolayer (SAM) as a unique type of nanomaterials has played important roles in modern nanotechnology. In this study, we described a novel method to fabricate SAM with a surfactant-like peptide A₆K, which has been known to self-assemble into micellar nanofibers in aqueous solution. Firstly a simple filtration method was used to remove self-assembling nanofibers and retain peptide monomers in solution. Pyrene-fluorescence, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to confirm that nanofibers were effectively removed and filtered solution contained only peptide monomers. Then by incubating the filtered peptide solution on mica surface, the peptide monomers could self-assemble into a flat and continuous peptide SAM, which was further proved to be a suitable substrate for creating nanopatterns by AFM nanolithography.

Cite this article as:

Xing Zhihua, Chen Yongzhu, Tang Chengkang, Gong Xiaoqiang and Qiu Feng, Fabrication of Peptide Self-assembled Monolayer on Mica Surface and its Application in Atomic Force Microscopy Nanolithography, Current Nanoscience 2014; 10 (2) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/15734137113096660111