Fabrication of Electronic Junctions between Oriented Multilayers of Photosystem i and the Electrodes of Optoelectronic Solid-State Devices

The efficient optoelectronic properties of photosynthetic proteins were explored in the quest for the fabrication of novel solid biohybrid devices. As most optoelectronic devices function in a dry environment, an attempt was made to fabricate an efficient electronic junction by covalent binding of photosynthetic reaction center proteins to metals, transparent semiconductor polymers, and solid semiconductors that function in a dry environment. The primary stages of photosynthesis take place in nanometric-size protein-chlorophyll complexes. Such is photosystem I (PSI), which generates a photovoltage of 1 V. The isolated PSI generates an absorbed light-energy conversion efficiency of ∼47% (∼23% solar energy) and internal quantum efficiency of ∼100%. The robust cyanobacterial PSI was used in the fabrication of solid-state optoelectronic devices by forming oriented multilayers from genetically engineered cysteine mutants between metal and transparent conducting semiconductor electrodes. Current-voltage measurements of the cells generated diode-and photodiode-like responses in the dark and the light, respectively. The cells were stable for many months in a dry environment. The generation of photocurrent and Voc indicated the formation of good electronic coupling between PSI and the electrodes, which can serve in the fabrication of solid-state biohybrid optoelectronic devices.