Zhiqiang Su

Self-assembled peptide and protein amyloid nanostructures have traditionally been considered only as pathological aggregates implicated in human neurodegenerative diseases. In more recent times, these nanostructures have found interesting applications as advanced materials in biomedicine, tissue engineering, renewable energy, environmental science, nanotechnology and material science, to name only a few fields. In all these applications, the final function depends on: (i) the specific mechanisms of protein aggregation, (ii) the hierarchical structure of the protein and peptide amyloids from the atomistic to mesoscopic length scales and (iii) the physical properties of the amyloids in the context of their surrounding environment (biological or artificial). In this review, we will discuss recent progress made in the field of functional and artificial amyloids and highlight connections between protein/peptide folding, unfolding and aggregation mechanisms, with the resulting amyloid structure and functionality. We also highlight current advances in the design and synthesis of amyloid-based biological and functional materials and identify new potential fields in which amyloid-based structures promise new breakthroughs.

We summarize the recent advances in the modification of graphene with polymers and the synthesis and applications of high quality graphene–polymer nanocomposites.

Graphene-based materials have attracted increasing attention due to their atomically-thick two-dimensional structures, high conductivity, excellent mechanical properties, and large specific surface areas. The combination of biomolecules with graphene-based materials offers a promising method to fabricate novel graphene-biomolecule hybrid nanomaterials with unique functions in biology, medicine, nanotechnology, and materials science. In this review, we focus on a summarization of the recent studies in functionalizing graphene-based materials using different biomolecules, such as DNA, peptides, proteins, enzymes, carbohydrates, and viruses. The different interactions between graphene and biomolecules at the molecular level are demonstrated and discussed in detail. In addition, the potential applications of the created graphene-biomolecule nanohybrids in drug delivery, cancer treatment, tissue engineering, biosensors, bioimaging, energy materials, and other nanotechnological applications are presented. This review will be helpful to know the modification of graphene with biomolecules, understand the interactions between graphene and biomolecules at the molecular level, and design functional graphene-based nanomaterials with unique properties for various applications.

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a typical layered transition-metal dichalcogenide material, which has aroused a great deal of interest in the past few years. Recently, more and more attention has been focused on the synthesis and applications of MoS2-based nanocomposites. In this review, we aimed to present a wider view of the synthesis of various MoS2-based nanocomposites for sensor and biosensor applications. We highlighted the potential methods like self-assembly, hydrothermal reaction, chemical vapour deposition, electrospinning, as well as microwave and laser beam treatments for the successful preparation of MoS2-based nanocomposites. On the other hand, three representative types of detection devices fabricated by the MoS2-based nanocomposites, field-effect transistor, optical, and electrochemical sensors, were introduced in detail and discussed fully. The relationships between the sensing performances and the special nanostructures within the MoS2-based nanocomposites were presented and discussed.