Selective Peptide Binders to the Perfluorinated Sulfonic Acid Ionomer Nafion

Fuel cells used for transport applications hold polymer membranes as a key element. Their efficiency can be significantly increased if structured ion channels are implemented at the molecular level into proton-conducting membrane. New functional molecules with selective affinity ionomers needed to obtain such membrane design. This study presents method screen peptide binders perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomers, e.g., Nafion using ultra-high density arrays spot size of up 30 µm. First, ionomer dispersion is incubated chip containing 56014 randomly chosen 6-mer peptides. Afterward, washed. The WIWHCW helix structure identified binder Nafion. invariant amino acids responsible binding also determined approach. specific pocket formed by histidine and tryptophan. Its dissociation constant measured ≈140 µM.