Abstract
Light-harvesting is at the heart of photocurrent generation devices, and it is also one of the most important natural phenomena of which photosynthesis is an example. Inspired by natural light-harvesting complexes, we present here a synthetic and artificial solid-state protein-based matrix that is molecularly doped with natural light-harvesting chlorophyll molecules. Such protein matrices are capable of photocurrent generation over a wide range of wavelengths in a source-drain configuration. We show that the photocurrent generation shows a switchable (flipping) behavior when (1) the magnitude of the applied bias is changed, (2) the location of the irradiated area is changed with respect to the electrodes, and (3) a gradient doping, enabled by the facile molecular doping approach, is formed. Finally, the synthetic artificial nature of the protein matrix allows the exploration of several light-harvesting cofactors not used in natural systems, where we further show photocurrent generation by doped, metal-free porphyrins.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 17939-17947 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Physical chemistry c |
Volume | 127 |
Issue number | 36 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 14 Sep 2023 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- General Energy
- Surfaces, Coatings and Films
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry