Abstract
Zinc oxide (ZnO) and bacteriorhodopsin (bR) hybrid nanostructures were fabricated by immobilizing bR on ZnO thin films and ZnO nanorods. The morphological and spectroscopic analysis of the hybrid structures confirmed the ZnO thin film/nanorod growth and functional properties of bR. The photoactivity results of the bR protein further corroborated the sustainability of its charge transport property and biological activity. When exposed to ethanol vapour (reducing gas) at low temperature (70 °C), the fabricated sensing elements showed a significant increase in resistivity, as opposed to the conventional n-type behaviour of bare ZnO nanostructures. This work opens up avenues towards the fabrication of low temperature, photoactivated, nanomaterial–biomolecule hybrid gas sensors.
Highlights
Nanomaterial–biomolecule conjugates have emerged into one of the most rapidly developing and sought after areas in modern biomolecular device fabrication and sensor design [1,2,3,4]
Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films (ZnO-TF) and ZnO nanorods (ZnO-NRs) were grown via the hydrothermal method on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates (25 × 25 mm) and both structures were used for the preparation of a sensitive film for gas testing
Nanomaterial–biomolecule hybrids based on ZnO-TF or ZnO-NR functionalized with bR protein have been successfully fabricated on ITO substrates
Summary
Nanomaterial–biomolecule conjugates have emerged into one of the most rapidly developing and sought after areas in modern biomolecular device fabrication and sensor design [1,2,3,4]. Researchers have explored innovative hybrid nanostructures based on the interaction of organic and inorganic materials in order to overcome the intrinsic limitations of ZnO (i.e., poor selectivity and high working temperature) [31,32,33]. A hybrid structure employing ZnO and bR protein has not been explored yet for gas sensing applications to the best of our knowledge.
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