Self-assembled peptide fibers encapsulated with in situ synthesized AgNPs exhibiting catalytic and antibacterial properties

Supramolecular gels have promising applications in the synthesis of inorganic–organic composite nanomaterials, and gels with excellent mechanical strength can be used to synthesize scaffolds for metal nanoparticles. However, external reducing agents usually need to be added in this process. In this work, a novel peptide gel containing reduced sulfhydryl groups in the side chains was constructed and silver nanoparticles formed in situ in the gel fibers, while eco-friendly and natural light could accelerate the formation of AgNPs without addition of any reducing agent. The coordination of Ag+ led to improvement in the mechanical properties, self-recovery ability and gel formation time of the FFCWR. The AgNPs/FFCWR exhibited excellent catalytic ability in degradation of the methylene blue and showed the antibacterial properties to both gram-negative (E. coli) and gram-positive (S. aureus) bacteria. The composite system may have promising applications in the field of biomedical and dye degradation.