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Article
Enhanced Piezoresponse and Nonlinear Optical Properties of Fluorinated Self-Assembled Peptide Nanotubes
AIP Advances
  • Soma Khanra
  • Sandra V. Vassiliades
  • Wendel A. Alves
  • Kaidi Yang
  • Rainer Glaser, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Kartik Ghosh
  • Payal Bhattacharya
  • Ping Yu
  • Suchismita Guha
Abstract

Self-assembled L,L-diphenylalanine (FF) nanostructures offer an attractive platform for photonics and nonlinear optics. The nonlinear optical (NLO) coefficients of FF nanotubes depend on the diameter of the tube [S. Khanra et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 19(4), 3084-3093 (2017)]. To further enhance the NLO properties of FF, we search for structural modifications. Here, we report on the synthesis of fluorinated FF dipeptides by replacing one ortho-hydrogen atom in each of the phenyl groups of FF by a fluorine atom. Density-functional theoretical calculations yield insights into minimum energy conformers of fluorinated FF (Fl-FF). Fl-FF self-assembles akin to FF into micron-length tubes. The effects of fluorination are evaluated on the piezoelectric response and nonlinear optical properties. The piezoelectric d15 coefficient of Fl-FF is found to be more than 10 times higher than that of FF nanotubes, and the intensity of second harmonic generation (SHG) polarimetry from individual Fl-FF nanotubes is more than 20 times that of individual FF nanotubes. Furthermore, we obtain SHG images to compare the intensities of FF and Fl-FF tubes. This work demonstrates the potential of fluorine substitution in other self-assembled biomimetic peptides for enhancing nonlinear optical response and piezoelectricity.

Department(s)
Chemistry
Research Center/Lab(s)
Center for High Performance Computing Research
Keywords and Phrases
  • Atoms,
  • Biomimetics,
  • Crystallography,
  • Density functional theory,
  • Fluorine,
  • Harmonic generation,
  • Nanotubes,
  • Optical properties,
  • Peptides,
  • Piezoelectricity, Biomimetic peptides,
  • Fluorine substitution,
  • Non-linear optical properties,
  • Nonlinear optical response,
  • Piezoelectric response,
  • Self-assembled peptides,
  • Structural modifications,
  • Theoretical calculations, Nonlinear optics
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2019 The Authors, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Publication Date
11-1-2019
Publication Date
01 Nov 2019
Disciplines
Citation Information
Soma Khanra, Sandra V. Vassiliades, Wendel A. Alves, Kaidi Yang, et al.. "Enhanced Piezoresponse and Nonlinear Optical Properties of Fluorinated Self-Assembled Peptide Nanotubes" AIP Advances Vol. 9 Iss. 11 (2019) ISSN: 2158-3226
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/rainer-glaser/156/