In this work, we applied advanced Synchrotron Radiation (SR) induced techniques to the study of the chemisorption of the Self Assembling Peptide EAbuK16, i.e., H-Abu-Glu-Abu-Glu-Abu-Lys-Abu-Lys-Abu-Glu-Abu-Glu-Abu-Lys-Abu-Lys-NH2 that is able to spontaneously aggregate in anti-parallel P-sheet conformation, onto annealed Ti25NblOZr alloy surfaces. This synthetic amphiphilic oligopeptide is a good candidate to mimic extracellular matrix for bone prosthesis, since its beta-sheets stack onto each other in a multilayer oriented nanostructure with internal pores of 5-200 nm size.
To prepare the biomimetic material, Ti25NblOZr discs were treated with aqueous solutions of EAbuK16 at different pH values. Here we present the results achieved by performing SR-induced X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (SR-XPS), angle-dependent Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, FESEM and AFM imaging on Ti25NblOZr discs after incubation with self-assembling peptide solution at five different pH values, selected deliberately to investigate the best conditions for peptide immobilization.