Semiconductors, developed from the inorganic to the organic ones, have been widely used in the field of electronics, energy and environment, such as integrated circuits, flexible electronics and artificial photosynthesis, etc. Recently, with the formation of peptide based quantum dot, the remarkable yet challenging perspective of biological p-n junction could bridge a gap between abiotic and biological system. However, hampered by the absence of evidence and theoretical model of protein semiconductor, the unidirectional electron transport between functional proteins and abiotic materials remains a challenge. Here we report bacteriorhodopsin (bR), a proton pump protein, is found to be an indirect n-type semiconductor, and underlies p-n junction mechanism. Thereby, we successfully explain the multitudinous optoelectronic effect between bR and p-type semiconductor. Furthermore, we establish an electron-transition trigged proton transport (ETPT) model for bR to understand the endergonic process of proton transport, and found it could be modulated via p-n junction. Our results demonstrate the biological p-n junction is effective to simultaneously modulate electron and proton. We anticipate the protein based p-n junction to be a starting point for bioelectronics, and the ETPT model underscore bionics for designing artificial ion pump.

Bacteriorhodopsin based biological p-n junction

256th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.