Ordered Langmuir-Blodgett Films of Amphiphilic β-Hairpin Peptides Imaged by Atomic Force Microscopy

Peptide length affects the size of the ridges observed in the atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of the Langmuir–Blodgett films of amphiphilic peptides: Well-ordered LB films can be prepared from a 14-residue amphiphilic peptide (left), while ordered LB films with a wider lattice (right) are obtained from an 18-residue peptide. The 100 nm×100 nm images pictured were obtained by AFM using carbon nanotube tips.