Surface self-assembly of N-fluorenyl-9-methoxycarbonyl diphenylalanine on silica wafer

N-Fluorenyl-9-methoxycarbonyl diphenylalanine (Fmoc-FF-OH) was chemically immobilized to the surface of silica wafer as the "seed". When immersing this peptide attached silica wafer into the dipeptide aqueous solution, the occurrence of a pH triggered surface self-assembly resulted in the formation of peptide nanorods on the surface of silica wafer. This surface self-assembly exhibited a dependence on the concentration of the dipeptide aqueous solution. It was proposed that the self-assembly of this dipeptide on the surface of silica wafer was similar to that in aqueous solution. In comparison with the conventional physical adsorption on the substrates, the chemically attached self-assembled nanorods exhibited much improved adsorption capacity on the substrate surface.