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Efficient and reversible chirality induction between protein and achiral plasmonic assemblies.
Ziwei Zhou1, Ningwei Sun2, Nina Tverdokhleb2,3,4
1Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden, Dresden, Germany. zhou@ipfdd.de.
Nature Materials
|April 15, 2026
Summary
Mechanical stretching of proteins in gold nanoparticle assemblies creates strong, reversible chiral optical activity. This breakthrough allows dynamic control over chiroptical responses in achiral plasmonic systems without complex fabrication.
Area of Science:
- Plasmonics
- Chirality
- Biophysics
Background:
- Biomolecular chirality typically exhibits optical activity in the deep ultraviolet.
- Artificial chiral plasmonic nanostructures offer stronger responses at visible and near-infrared wavelengths.
- A key challenge is transferring natural biomolecular chirality to achiral plasmonic systems without complex 3D nanofabrication.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if mechanical stretching of proteins can induce and control chiroptical activity in achiral plasmonic systems.
- To explore the potential for dynamic modulation of plasmon-coupled circular dichroism.
Main Methods:
- Mechanical stretching of protein molecules anchored within achiral gold nanoparticle assemblies.
- Measurement of chiroptical response (ellipticity and dissymmetry factor).
- Cyclic stretching and relaxation experiments.
- Computational simulations and in situ spectroscopy.
Main Results:
- Mechanical stretching significantly enhances and reversibly modulates plasmon-coupled circular dichroism.
- Achieved an ellipticity of 1.18° and a dissymmetry factor of 0.2, surpassing conventional methods.
- Demonstrated over 100 cycles of reversible switching through stretching and relaxation.
- Deformation of proteins alters their conformation and dipole alignment, strengthening the plasmonic chiral response.
Conclusions:
- Mechanical stretching provides a novel route to achieve dynamically controllable chiroptical activity in achiral plasmonic assemblies.
- Small biomolecular deformations can profoundly influence the plasmonic responses of larger nanostructures.
- This method offers a pathway to harness biomolecular chirality for advanced optical applications.
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