Self‐Assembling Peptide Polyelectrolyte β‐Sheet Complexes Form Nematic Hydrogels

Abstract

Fibrillar networks built up from polyelectrolyte β-sheet complexes (see picture) are formed by spontaneous self-assembly when solutions of appropriately designed cationic and anionic oligopeptides are mixed. At the macroscopic level the resulting solutions are nematic hydrogels, which are quite robust to variations in pH or peptide concentration.