Achieving multifunctional nanocatalysts using bio-inspired approaches

Conventional approaches for nanoparticle catalyst preparation focus on the capping of an inorganic core with an organic ligand shell. Typically the ligand shell is required to maintain colloidal suspension of the catalytic core of the nanoparticle structure; however, this ligand interface provides a great wealth of underexplored opportunity to tune and engender the system with multifunctional capabilities. Such capabilities would mimic the multifunctional nature of many nanostructures employed in biological systems where translating the lessons learned by nature could achieve long standing grand challenges in nanocatalyst design. Our research has focused on the use of materials binding peptides for the design of functional bio-inspired nanoparticle ligand interfaces that incorporate multifunctional handles at the material surface. To this end, the peptides can be designed to recognize and bind the growing nanoparticle material in solution, thus achieving dispersed reactive materials where the reactivity can be directly tuned by the sequence employed. This also allows for incorporation of secondary functionalities for remotely stimulated reactivity or multistep catalytic properties to achieve new capabilities through judicious tuning of the bio-ligand interfacial structure. Such approaches could provide new pathways to multifunctional materials that operate under sustainable conditions for energy-efficient catalytic capabilities.