Peptide‐Induced Ferroelectricity in Charge‐Transfer Supramolecular Materials

Passarelli, James V.; Yang, Yang; Smith, Cara S.; Hao, Jing; Dave, Dhwanit R.; Narayanan, Ashwin; Álvarez, Zaida; Johnson, Broderick K.; Marshall, Kelly A.; Fithian, Ivan; Sai, Hiroaki; Qiu, Ruomeng; Stern, Charlotte L.; Palmer, Liam C.; Kiskinis, Evangelos; Stupp, Samuel I.

doi:10.1002/adma.202514940

Peptide‐Induced Ferroelectricity in Charge‐Transfer Supramolecular Materials

Journal Article · Sat Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2026 · Advanced Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202514940· OSTI ID:3022724

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; Hao, Jing ^[4]; Dave, Dhwanit R. ^[2]; Narayanan, Ashwin ^[1]; Álvarez, Zaida ^[5]; Johnson, Broderick K. ^[1]; Marshall, Kelly A. ^[2]; Fithian, Ivan ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[2]; Stern, Charlotte L. ^[1]; ^[6]; Kiskinis, Evangelos ^[2]; ^[6]

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (United States)
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (United States)
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (United States); Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (United States)
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden)
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (United States); CIBER-BBN, Madrid (Spain)
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (United States); Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (United States)

Organic ferroelectrics are of great interest in sustainable energy conversion, information storage, flexible electronics, and potential biomedical applications as soft implants, among many other applications. Despite their broad potential, the development of organic ferroelectrics has remained limited, with only a few known examples in solid-state systems, primarily due to the lack of well-established design strategies compared to inorganic systems. Bio-inspired supramolecular chemistry offers a path to create functional nanostructures that are water-processable and biocompatible. We report here on supramolecular charge transfer (CT) systems in which peptides are covalently linked to dyads of electron-donating and electron-accepting moieties, creating amphiphiles that self-assemble into nanoscale ribbons in water. The peptide chirality-induced symmetry breaking in these crystalline nanostructures not only results in second harmonic activity but also generates ferroelectric behavior across multiple CT systems, demonstrating a versatile supramolecular approach to the design of new organic ferroelectrics. Furthermore, culturing primary neuron cells on coatings of the ferroelectric materials promoted axonal growth and enhanced action potentials, indicating improved neuronal maturity facilitated by the polar structure of the ferroelectric nanomaterials. The supramolecular strategy used here holds promise to create new water-processable ferroelectric biomaterials, opening avenues for innovative applications in cell charge transfer, neuronal axon growth, peptide symmetry breaking, self-assembling peptides, supramolecular ferroelectrics, proliferation, and bioelectronics.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Northwestern University, Chicago, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; SC0020884

OSTI ID:: 3022724

Journal Information:: Advanced Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Materials Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 38; ISSN 1521-4095; ISSN 0935-9648

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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