In nature, mineral-forming organisms achieve outstanding control over the assembly and properties of minerals. Understanding interactions during biomolecule-mediated synthesis is key to addressing the challenges that arise when designing new materials and synthesizing superior nanostructures, especially under aqueous conditions. The studies of peptide-mineral interactions presented in this thesis aimed to identify the peptide-surface affinity and its binding mechanism (s) as well as the effect of peptides on mineral formation by in vitro studies. The minerals; crystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) and amorphous silica (SiO 2) and their specific binding peptides identified by phage display were chosen for this investigation.