Self-Assembly as a Technique for Peptide-Based Materials

Amphiphilic peptide (AP), which behaves in some respects like amphiphilic surfactants, is a class of molecule that consists of a hydrophilic peptide segment and a hydrophobic domain. In water, these molecules generally self-assemble into rods with a hydrophobic core. The peptide segments outside the hydrophobic core always prefer a β-sheet conformation. As introduced in the latest reviews [23,24], the self-assembly of AP are mainly controlled by the balance between hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments, and influenced by parameters such as temperature, pH, lights, and so on. Therefore, many pH-responsive [25], temperature-responsive [26], UV lightresponsive and enzymes-responsive [27] materials have been developed and applied, and some of these are already in commercial use, e.g. in skincare products [28]. Introduction