Graphene-based materials functionalized with elastin-like polypeptides.

Graphene-based materials commonly require functionalization for biological applications in order to control their physical/colloidal properties and to introduce additional capabilities, such as stimuli-responsiveness and affinity to specific biomolecules. Here, we functionalized CVD-grown graphene and graphene oxide with a genetically engineered elastin-like polypeptide fused to a graphene binding peptide and then showed that the resulting hybrid materials exhibit thermo- and photoresponsive behaviors. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our genetic engineering strategy allows for the facile introduction of bioactivity to reduced graphene oxide. The stimuli-responsiveness and genetic tunability of our graphene-protein nanocomposites are attractive for addressing future biomedical applications.