This proposal describes the engineering of bioinspired macromolecular electrets capable of mediating long-range charge transfer. (Electrets contain permanent electric dipole moments with ordered orientations: i.e., electrets are the electrostatic equivalent of magnets.) Rectification in the directionality of charge transfer will result from the electric field gradient generated by the intrinsic dipole moments of the electrets. We take concepts from biological motifs, such as the ordered orientation of the peptide bonds (and their electric dipole moments) in protein helices, and use these concepts for the design of macromolecular electrets with improved charge-transduction properties for solar-energy-conversion and molecular-electronics applications. Our molecular designs are based on poly-ortho-arylamides (POA), which similar to polypeptide α-helices, contain ordered arrangement of amide and hydrogen bonds, but in contrast to polypeptides and proteins, have an extended π-electronic conjugation that is expected to provide pathways for efficient long-range charge transfer. Preliminary theoretical studies in collaboration with Prof. R. Lake’s group (EE department) revealed two properties of POA that are essential for the proposed research: (1) POA possess intrinsic dipole moments that range between 3 and 5 Debyes per residue (for comparison, polypeptide α-helices have dipoles in the order of 5 D/residue); (2) the dipole moments of POA cause a removal of the degeneracy in the frontier orbitals along the polymers.