Preparation of Langmuir-Blodgett composite films based on sericin protein and silk fibroin with good surface-enhanced Raman scattering and photovoltaic properties

Abstract

In this work, the self-assembled films of sericin protein (SP), silk fibroin (SF), and dye molecules were prepared by the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) experiments demonstrated that the SP/saffron T (ST)-80 and SF/ST-60 composite LB films exhibited good Raman enhancement characteristics with enhancement factors (EFs) of 5.74×104 and 7.05×104, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of Raman intensity were 7.19% and 18.40%, respectively, confirming the uniformity of the composite LB films. Furthermore, photoelectric conversion efficiencies indicate that the electrodes fabricated from SP/ST and SF/ST film electrodes have high carrier rates and good photocurrent generation properties. This study provides novel insights into the fabrication of multifunctional SP/dye and SF/dye composite LB films, demonstrating their potential applications in SERS and photovoltaic conversion.