Peptide-based biocoatings for corrosion protection of stainless steel biomaterial in a chloride solution.

In this work, PEGylated D-amino acid K122-4 peptide (D-K122-4-PEG), derived from the type IV pilin of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, coated on 304 stainless steel was investigated for its corrosion resistant properties in a sodium chloride solution by various electrochemical measurements, surface characterization and molecular dynamics simulation. As a comparison, stainless steel electrodes coated with non-PEGylated D-amino acid retroinverso peptide (RI-K122-4) and D-amino acid K122-4 peptide (D-K122-4) were used as control variables during electrochemical tests. It was found that the D-K122-4-PEG coating is able to protect the stainless steel from corrosion in the solution. The RI-K122-4 coating shows corrosion resistant property and should be investigated further, while the D-K122-4 peptide coating, in contrast, shows little to no effect on corrosion. The morphological characterizations support the corrosion resistance of D-K122-4-PEG on stainless steel. The adsorption of D-K122-4 molecules occurs preferentially on Fe2O3, rather than Cr2O3, present on the stainless steel surface.