A Bacterial Photosynthetic Enzymatic Unit Modulating Organic Transistors with Light

Michele Di Lauro,Simona La Gatta,Vitaliy Parkula,Fabio Biscarini,Massimo Trotta,Marcello Berto,Francesco Milano,Mauro Murgia,Tobias Cramer,Carlo A Bortolotti,Angela Agostiano,Valerio Beni,Gianluca M Farinola,Martina Giordani,Sofia Drakopoulou

doi:10.1002/aelm.201900888

Abstract

AbstractThe photochemical core of every photosynthetic apparatus is the reaction center, a transmembrane enzyme that converts photons into charge‐separated states across the biological membrane with an almost unitary quantum yield. A light‐responsive organic transistor architecture, which converts light into electrical current by exploiting the efficiency of this biological machinery, is presented. Proper surface tailoring enables the integration of the bacterial reaction center as photoactive element in organic transistors, allowing the transduction of its photogenerated voltage into photomodulation of the output current up to two orders of magnitude. This device architecture, termed light‐responsive electrolyte‐gated organic transistor, is the prototype of a new generation of low‐power hybrid bio‐optoelectronic organic devices.

Highlights

Evolution has engineered multi-protein complexes to efficiently convert solar radiation into chemical energy,[1] sustaining the energy needs of life on planet Earth via the photosynthetic process
Electrolyte-Gated Organic Transistors (EGOTs) (Figure 1.A), featuring a semiconductive channel exposed to an electrolyte whose potential is fixed by a Gate electrode, are ultra-sensitive sensors towards bio-markers,[17,18] ionic and molecular analytes,[19,20] and transducers of bioelectrical signals.[21,22]
In Light-driven Electrolyte-Gated Organic Transistor (LEGOT), reaction center (RC) is adsorbed on an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) Gate electrode and the channel is either a solution processed 6,13-Bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-P5) layer or a printed poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film, for Electrolyte-Gated Organic Field-Effect Transistor (EGOFET) and Organic Electro-Chemical Transistor (OECT) architectures, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Evolution has engineered multi-protein complexes to efficiently convert solar radiation into chemical energy,[1] sustaining the energy needs of life on planet Earth via the photosynthetic process. EGOTs (Figure 1.A), featuring a semiconductive channel exposed to an electrolyte whose potential is fixed by a Gate electrode, are ultra-sensitive sensors towards bio-markers,[17,18] ionic and molecular analytes,[19,20] and transducers of bioelectrical signals.[21,22] A prototypical bio-organic EGOT, light-gated by means of the photosynthetic RC from R. sphaeroides, is presented and termed Light-driven Electrolyte-Gated Organic Transistor LEGOT.

Results

Conclusion