Size-Controlled Self-Assembly of Peptide Nanotubes Using Polycarbonate Membranes as Templates

Peptide nanotubes have been self-assembled from the peptide monomers with polycarbonate membranes in solution to control the diameter of the nanotubes by using the membranes as templates. The diameters of self-assembled peptide nanotubes can be controlled by the pore sizes of the polycarbonate membrane templates, whereas peptide nanotubes that were not grown in the membrane pores were not monodisperse. Therefore, those nanotubes grown outside the membranes had to be removed before dissolving the templates in order to obtain monodisperse peptide nanotubes. The peptide nanotubes were self-assembled in the membrane pores as small as 50 nm in diameter.