Leveraging in situ SAXS/WAXS under controlled relative humidity (RH) to understand and control optical and H+ transport properties of amylo

We aim to correlate the effect of water on the self-assemblies of non-pathological amyloid fibers with their recently discovered optical properties (UV-Vis luminescence up to NIR [X1] and photonic band gap in the visible range) and charge transport abilities, challenging the performances of Nafion® (the gold standard), by in situ SAXS/WAXS measurements as a function of relative humidity (RH). This study will (i) shed light on the intra- and inter-fiber interactions that develop between water molecules and these hierarchically self-organized high aspect ratio fibers and (ii) correlate their physical properties with key structural features in order to establish the generic nature of the phenomena observed in these amyloid structures. Beyond their fundamental interest, the expected results will be of paramount importance to trigger the development of bio-based/inspired materials with improved functionalities and performances based on the specific properties of amyloid fibers.