Biomolecular material recognition in two dimensions: peptide binding to graphene, h-BN, and MoS₂ nanosheets as unique bioconjugates

Two-dimensional nanosheet-based materials such as graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, and MoS2 represent intriguing structures for a variety of biological applications ranging from biosensing to nanomedicine. Recent advances have demonstrated that peptides can be identified with affinity for these three materials, thus generating a highly unique bioconjugate interfacial system. This Review focuses on recent advances in the formation of bioconjugates of these types, paying particular attention to the structure/function relationship of the peptide overlayer. This is achieved through the amino acid composition of the nanosheet binding peptides, thus allowing for precise control over the properties of the final materials. Such bioconjugate systems offer rapid advances via direct property control that remain difficult to achieve for biological applications using nonbiological approaches.