Ultrafast chiral peptides purification via surface plasmon enhanced spin selectivity

Area of Science:

• Spintronics
• Nanotechnology
• Chiral Chemistry

Background:

• Chiral peptide purification is challenging.
• Spin selectivity and polarization are crucial for spintronic applications.
• Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) can enhance optical and electronic properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To simplify chiral peptide purification using spin selectivity.
• To enhance spin polarization and photon-to-electron conversion efficiency.
• To investigate the effect of Au NPs on ZnO nanorods for chiral detection.

Main Methods:

• Synthesized spherical and urchin-liked Au NPs using seed growth and UV reduction methods.
• Decorated Au NPs on ZnO nanorods electrodes.
• Utilized polarizers and wave plates to control light angular momentum.
• Performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Main Results:

• Urchin-liked Au NPs decorating ZnO nanorods enhanced photon-to-electron conversion efficiency.
• Achieved ultrahigh localized plasmon conversion efficiency up to 60%.
• DFT calculations showed different angular momentum and spin polarization coupling for D- and L-arginine on Au substrate.
• Chiral arginine sensitivity increased by approximately 5000% with Au NPs, reducing purification time to 5 minutes.

Conclusions:

• Au NPs decorated ZnO nanorods electrodes effectively modulate spintronic polarization.
• Chiral induced spin polarization is enhanced by Au NPs via surface plasmon resonance.
• The developed method significantly improves chiral peptide purification efficiency and speed.