Peptides as materials.

This review focuses on the creation of electronically active peptide-based biomaterials and how such materials may be deposited onto surfaces to create integrated bionanocircuits. We describe recent efforts to add electronically active groups, such as metal complexes and various porphyrin derivatives, onto peptide-based materials. Having created such materials, the next challenge in creating a nanocircuit is to deposit these materials robustly and precisely onto appropriate surfaces. Methods for the deposition of peptides onto a variety of inorganic and organic surfaces are explored. Advances in patterning at the nanoscale are also described, focusing largely on softer methods appropriate for peptides. There are challenges yet to be overcome in realizing such peptide-based nanocircuits; these are discussed in our concluding remarks.