Ravi, S.K., Swainsbury, D.J.K. orcid.org/0000-0002-0754-0363, Singh, V.K. et al. (3 more authors) (2018) A mechanoresponsive phase-changing electrolyte enables fabrication of high-output solid-state photobioelectrochemical devices from pigment-protein multilayers. Advanced Materials, 30 (5). 1704073. ISSN 0935-9648
Abstract
Exploitation of natural photovoltaic reaction center pigment proteins in biohybrid architectures for solar energy harvesting is attractive due to their global abundance, environmental compatibility, and near-unity quantum efficiencies. However, it is challenging to achieve high photocurrents in a device setup due to limitations imposed by low light absorbance by protein monolayers and/or slow long-range diffusion of liquid-phase charge carriers. In an attempt to enhance the photocurrent density achievable by pigment proteins, here, an alternative solid-state device architecture enabled by a mechanoresponsive gel electrolyte that can be applied under nondenaturing conditions is demonstrated. The phase-changing electrolyte gel provides a pervading biocompatible interface for charge conduction through highly absorbing protein multilayers that are fabricated in a simple fashion. Assembled devices exhibit enhanced current stability and a maximal photoresponse of ≈860 μA cm -2 , a fivefold improvement over the best previous comparable devices under standard illumination conditions. Photocurrent generation is enhanced by directional energy transfer through extended layers of light-harvesting complexes, mimicking the modular antenna/transducer architecture of natural photosystems, and by metastable radical pair formation when photovoltaic reaction centers are embedded throughout light-harvesting regions of the device.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 The Authors. Published by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | bio‐photovoltaics; mechanoresponsive gels; photosynthetic reaction centers; solid‐state solar cells |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 15 Oct 2018 14:07 |
Last Modified: | 22 Dec 2023 12:40 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/adma.201704073 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:137055 |