Differential Bio‐Optoelectronic Gating of Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes by Varying the Covalent Attachment Residue of a Green Fluorescent Protein

Rebecca E A Gwyther,D Dafydd Jones,Aleksei V Emelianov,Albert G Nasibulin,Nikita P Nekrasov,Krithika Ramakrishnan,Ivan Bobrinetskiy

doi:10.1002/adfm.202112374

Abstract

AbstractIntegrating photoactive proteins with synthetic nanomaterials holds great promise in developing optoelectronic devices whereby light, captured by a antenna protein, is converted to a modulated electrical response. The protein–nanomaterial interface is critical to defining optoelectronic properties; successful integration of bionanohybrids requires control over protein attachment site and a detailed understanding of its impact on device performance. Here, the first single‐walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) bio‐optoelectronic transistor enabled by the site‐specific direct interfacing with a green fluorescent protein (GFP) via genetically encoded phenyl azide photochemistry is reported. The electrical behavior of individual semiconducting SWCNTs depends on the protein residue coupling site and provides the basis to design eco‐friendly phototransistors and optoelectronic memory. Attachment at one GFP residue proximal to the chromophore produces a wavelength‐specific phototransistor. The bio‐transistor can be switched off in less than 38 s with responsivity up to 7 × 103 A W−1 at 470 nm. Attachment via a second residue distal to the chromophore generates optoelectronic memory that show rapid and reproducible conductivity switching with up to 15‐fold modulation that is restored on the application of a gate voltage. Therefore, photoactive proteins, especially GFP, can be realized as a key material for novel single‐molecule electronic and photonic devices.

Highlights

Optoelectronic devices based on interfacing biomolecules with existing molecular electronic materials have generated great interest both in terms of being eco-friendly, low-cost nextgeneration electronics based on novel computing principles.[1,2] A key facet for any successful implementation is communication between the molecular entities, so events in one alter the other.[3]
We demonstrate the use of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) fieldeffect transistor (FET) photochemically modified with two different phenyl azide containing variants of superfolder GFP (sfGFP) (Figure 1a) for the development of optoelectronic devices
We demonstrate that the light-dependent electron-donating nature of green fluorescent protein (GFP) decreases the conductivity of p-type semiconducting SWCNT by circa an order of magnitude upon light illumination close to the peak absorbance wavelength for GFP

Summary

Introduction

Optoelectronic devices based on interfacing biomolecules with existing molecular electronic materials have generated great interest both in terms of being eco-friendly, low-cost nextgeneration electronics based on novel computing principles.[1,2] A key facet for any successful implementation is communication between the molecular entities, so events in one (e.g., biomolecular function) alter the other (e.g., conductance).[3] With regards to bio-based optoelectronic devices, fluorescent proteins[4,5] can act as the light-responsive element that transduces events through to a nanocarbon conductance base, such as single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and graphene. Most of these approaches do not allow the attachment site to be defined and systematically varied to optimize and/or alter the protein-dependent conductance characteristics

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