Molecular self-assembly of peptide

Arising from the abundant protein self-assemblies existing in nature, recently, the self-assembly of peptides has been a research focus. Through rational designing the molecular structures of peptides and altering the external environment, peptides can spontaneously or induced self-assemble into specific-shape aggregates via noncovalent forces, such as hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic and π-stacking interactions etc. Due to well biocompatibility and controlled degradation, functional materials constructed from the self-assembly of peptides present a great potential in many biomedical fields. This review explores the research progress of the self-assembly of peptides in the past two decades. The structure motifs used in the self-assembly of peptide, self-assembly mechanisms, morphologies as well as the biomedical applications of the self-assembled peptides are also reviewed in detail.