Programmable 2D Nanomaterial Captures Artificial Light for Bioimaging

A light-harvesting nanomaterial inspired by the hierarchically structured biominerals in nature could be used to build artificial light-harvesting systems for bioimaging, photovoltaics, and other applications. Created by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Washington State University, the programmable nanomaterial is made from organic and inorganic components. The hybrid material combines the structural and functional complexity of biominerals with the programmability of a protein-like synthetic molecule (a peptoid). Biominerals are organic-inorganic hybrid materials with high mechanical strength. The researchers synthesized a series of organic-inorganic hybrid peptoids by using polyhedral oligomeric...