Self-assembly and nanomechanics of peptide/cellulose nanocomposites

凯夫拉纤维是目前市场上最强的合成纺织纤维。它也是石油工业的副产品。该项目的目标是开发一种由可再生材料制成的可生物降解纤维，这种纤维至少可以与凯夫拉的机械性能相匹配。为了实现这一目标，我们将利用两种天然聚合物的独特性质，蛋白质和糖。该项目的核心是设计一种被称为多肽的短蛋白质，这种蛋白质可以大量生产，并且可以自组装成纳米厚的绳索。我们将在自然界中发现的类似结构上建立这些绳索的模型，这些结构在拉伸时能够变得更强。我们将开发将这些绳索加工成纺织纤维的方法，我们将用从木材中提取的纳米级纤维素晶体来加固这些纤维。因此，我们应该能够生产出一种像钢铁一样坚固的可生物降解的纺织纤维。

Kevlar is the strongest synthetic textile fibre available on the market today. It is also a by-product of the petroleum industry. The goal of this project is to develop a biodegradable fibre built from renewable materials that can at least match the mechanical performance of Kevlar. To achieve this goal we will take advantage of the unique properties of two types of natural polymers, proteins and sugars. At the core of the project is the design of short proteins called peptides that can be produced in large quantities and can self-assemble into nanometer thick ropes. We will model these ropes on similar structures found in Nature that have the ability to become stronger when stretched. We will develop methods to process these ropes into textile fibres that we will reinforce with nanometer sized cellulose crystals extracted from wood. As a result we should be able to produce a biodegradable textile fibre as strong as steel.