Abstract
Despite its disordered liquid-like structure, glass exhibits solid-like mechanical properties1. The formation of glassy material occurs by vitrification, preventing crystallization and promoting an amorphous structure2. Glass is fundamental in diverse fields of materials science, owing to its unique optical, chemical and mechanical properties as well as durability, versatility and environmental sustainability3. However, engineering a glassy material without compromising its properties is challenging4,5,6. Here we report the discovery of a supramolecular amorphous glass formed by the spontaneous self-organization of the short aromatic tripeptide YYY initiated by non-covalent cross-linking with structural water7,8. This system uniquely combines often contradictory sets of properties; it is highly rigid yet can undergo complete self-healing at room temperature. Moreover, the supramolecular glass is an extremely strong adhesive yet it is transparent in a wide spectral range from visible to mid-infrared. This exceptional set of characteristics is observed in a simple bioorganic peptide glass composed of natural amino acids, presenting a multi-functional material that could be highly advantageous for various applications in science and engineering.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award no. FA8655-21-1-7004 (E.G.), the Marian Gertner Institute for Medical Nanosystems Research (G.F.-Z. and Z.A.A.), the Clore Scholars Program, the Zuckerman Israeli-Postdoc Program and the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP LT000158/2021-C) (Z.A.A.). T.V. thanks Tel Aviv University for the post-doctoral fellowship. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Air Force. We thank T. Brosh and L. Adler-Abramovich for assisting with the mechanical measurements, B. Ratzker for helping in the design of the measurements, D. Rachmiel for the assistance with drilling holes in the glass slides and D. Zaguri for providing us with the weights. We also thank R. Beck and G. R. Koren for their assistance in SAXS measurements. We thank S. S. B. Shabtay and Y. Cohen for their assistance in the NMR measurements, J. Jopp for the infrared measurements and D. Levy for the PXRD measurements. Last, we thank all members of the Gazit group for their helpful discussions.
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Contributions
G.F.-Z., Z.A.A. and E.G. conceptualized the project. G.F.-Z., Z.A.A., T.V. and E.G. conceived and designed the methodology. G.F.-Z., M.S. and O.M. performed the characterization of the mechanical properties. A.G., O.S.L. and T.V. performed the NMR experiments and analysed them. B.A.P. and A.W. performed cryo-SEM measurements. G.F.-Z., G.Z. and R.A. performed the transparency measurements. E.G., T.E., Z.A.A. and L.M. designed and performed the optical lens experiment. S.R.-L. and S.G. contributed to the interpretation of the data and text editing. S.S. synthesized and characterized the peptide derivative. M.J.P. performed the Raman experiment. D.A.G. and S.K. assisted with the sample preparation. T.E., B.A.P., A.G., M.S. and E.G. provided resources for this project. E.G. supervised the work and performed project administration. G.F.-Z., Z.A.A. and E.G. wrote the Article. All authors discussed the results, provided intellectual input and critical feedback and commented on the Article.
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Supplementary Information
This file contains Supplementary Figs. 1–17, Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Schemes 1 and 2.
Supplementary Video 1
Successful adhesion of two microscope glass slides held together by a YYY adhesive layer, under a downward load of 5 kg.
Supplementary Video 2
Cracks propagation in a YYY peptide glass under dry conditions.
Supplementary Video 3
Self-healing of a cracked YYY peptide glass under humid conditions.
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Finkelstein-Zuta, G., Arnon, Z.A., Vijayakanth, T. et al. A self-healing multispectral transparent adhesive peptide glass. Nature 630, 368–374 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07408-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07408-x
