A Decaheme Cytochrome as a Molecular Electron Conduit in Dye-Sensitized Photoanodes

Lars J. C. Jeuken^a, Valentin Radu^a, Khizar Sheikh^a, Ee Taek Hwang^a, Erwin Reisner^b, Katherine L. Orchard^b, Chong-Yong Lee^b, Manuela A. Gross^b, Daisuke Hojo^c, Tadafumi Adschiri^c, Julea N. Butt^d, Colin Lockwood^d, Emma Ainsworth^d

^aUniversity of Leeds, Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, Leeds, United Kingdom

^bUniversity of Cambridge , Department of Chemistry, United Kingdom, Lensfield Road, United Kingdom

^cAdvanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira Aoba-ku Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8577

^dUniversity of East Anglia, Centre for Molecular and Structural Biochemistry, School of Chemistry, and School of Biological Sciences, Colney Lane, United Kingdom

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics 2015 (HOPV15)

Roma, Italy, 2015 May 11th - 13th

Organizer: Filippo De Angelis

Poster, Ee Taek Hwang, 310
Publication date: 5th February 2015

In nature, charge recombination in light-harvesting reaction centers is minimized by efficient charge separation. Here, we aimed to mimic this by coupling dye-sensitized TiO₂ nanocrystals to a decaheme protein, MtrC from Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, where the ten hemes of MtrC form a ~7 nm long molecular wire between the TiO₂ and the underlying electrode. The system is assembled by forming a densely-packed MtrC film on an ultra-flat gold electrode, followed by the adsorption of approximately 7 nm TiO₂ nanocrystals that are modified with a phosphonated bipyridine Ru(II) dye (RuP). The step-by-step construction of the MtrC/TiO₂ system is monitored with (photo)electrochemistry, quartz-crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Photocurrents are dependent on the redox state of the MtrC, confirming that electrons are transferred from the TiO₂ nanocrystals to the surface via the MtrC conduit. In other words, TiO₂/MtrC molecular wires function as hybrid photodiodes in which MtrC traps the conduction-band electrons from TiO₂ before transferring them to the electrode. To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first demonstration of a photobioelectrochemical system that uses a redox protein to mimic efficient charge separation found in biological photosystems.

nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.

MATSUS

Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.

Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics

The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.

International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics

The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.