Assembly of iron oxide nanosheets at the air–water interface by leucine–histidine peptides

The fabrication of inorganic nanomaterials is important for a wide range of disciplines. While many purely inorganic synthetic routes have enabled a manifold of nanostructures under well-controlled conditions, organisms have the ability to synthesize structures under ambient conditions. For example, magnetotactic bacteria, can synthesize tiny ‘compass needles’ of magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)). Here, we demonstrate the bio-inspired synthesis of extended, self-supporting, nanometer-thin sheets of iron oxide at the water–air interface through self-assembly using small histidine-rich peptides.