Inorganic-binding peptides as tools for surface quality control

This paper highlights an innovative application of inorganic-binding peptides as quality control tools for detecting defects on inorganic surfaces of any shape. The approach involves attaching a fluorescent label to an inorganic-binding peptide and exploiting the peptide's high binding specificity to detect, by simple fluorescence microscopy, chemical composition defects of µm size and crystallographic state defects. Proof of concept was demonstrated by monitoring binding of a previously isolated ZnO-binding peptide to galvanized steel substrates. The approach was further validated for TiO2 coatings and stainless steel, with two new, specific inorganic-binding peptides isolated by phage display.