Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Xampla Ltd, Cambridge, UK.
Nat Commun. 2021 Jun 10;12(1):3529. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23813-6.
The abundance of plant-derived proteins, as well as their biodegradability and low environmental impact make them attractive polymeric feedstocks for next-generation functional materials to replace current petroleum-based systems. However, efforts to generate functional materials from plant-based proteins in a scalable manner have been hampered by the lack of efficient methods to induce and control their micro and nanoscale structure, key requirements for achieving advantageous material properties and tailoring their functionality. Here, we demonstrate a scalable approach for generating mechanically robust plant-based films on a metre-scale through controlled nanometre-scale self-assembly of water-insoluble plant proteins. The films produced using this method exhibit high optical transmittance, as well as robust mechanical properties comparable to engineering plastics. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability to impart nano- and microscale patterning into such films through templating, leading to the formation of hydrophobic surfaces as well as structural colour by controlling the size of the patterned features.
植物来源蛋白质的丰富性，以及它们的可生物降解性和低环境影响，使它们成为有吸引力的聚合物原料，可用于制造下一代功能性材料，以替代当前基于石油的系统。然而，由于缺乏有效诱导和控制其微观和纳米级结构的方法，难以以规模化的方式从植物蛋白中生成功能性材料，而微观和纳米级结构是实现有利材料性能和调整其功能的关键要求。在这里，我们展示了一种可规模化的方法，通过控制水不溶性植物蛋白的纳米级自组装，在米级尺度上生成机械强度高的植物基薄膜。通过这种方法制备的薄膜具有高透光率以及与工程塑料相当的机械强度。此外，我们通过模板化演示了在这种薄膜中赋予纳米级和微级图案的能力，通过控制图案特征的尺寸，形成疏水面以及结构色。
