Increasing energy demands has spurred much interest in the sustainable generation of alternative energy and greener fuels.  Inspired by nature's use of polypeptide-bound tetrapyrroles for both light-harvesting and electron transfer, we have investigated the photoinduced charge separation and charge transport from zinc-substituted heme containing proteins (ZnP) to single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs).  Attachment of ZnP was achieved by sonicating SWNTs with the protein sample forming a stable suspension in water. Protein-SWNT binding was characterized with atomic force microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopy. While ZnP fluorescence was quenched by SWNT binding, significantly, even with excess protein in solution, only the intrinsic SWNT PLE peaks can be seen; no SWNT fluorescence is observed when exciting the ZnP directly.  Together, the ZnP fluorescence quenching and PLE data suggest that the ZnP fluorescence quenching results from electron transfer to the SWNT rather than nonradiative energy transfer (i.e. FRET).

Protein-carbon nanotube heterostructures for solar energy applications

244th National Meeting (2012)

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