Polarity‐Controlled Attachment of Cytochrome C for High‐Performance Cytochrome C/Graphene van der Waals Heterojunction Photodetectors

Abstract

Biomolecule/graphene van der Waals heterojunction provides a generic platform for designing high‐performance, flexible, and scalable optoelectronics. A key challenge is, in controllable attachment, the biomolecules to form a desired interfacial electronic structure for a high‐efficiency optoelectronic process of photoabsorption, exciton dissociation into photocarriers, carrier transfer, and transport. Here, it is shown that a polarity‐controlled attachment of the Cytochrome c (Cyt c) biomolecules can be achieved on the channel of graphene field effect transistors (GFET). High‐efficiency charge transfer across the formed Cyt c/graphene interface is demonstrated when Cyt c attaches with positively charged side to GFET as predicted by molecular dynamics simulation and confirmed experimentally. This Cyt c/GFET van der Waals heterojunction nanohybrid photodetector exhibits a spectral photoresponsivity resembling the absorption spectrum of the Cyt c, confirming the role of Cty c as the photosensitizer in the device. The high visible photoresponsivity up to 7.57 × 104 A W−1 can be attributed to the high photoconductive gain in exceeding 105 facilitated by the high carrier mobility in graphene. This result therefore demonstrates a viable approach in synthesis of the biomolecule/graphene van der Waals heterojunction optoelectronics using polarity‐controlled biomolecule attachment, which can be expanded for on‐chip printing of high‐performance molecular optoelectronics.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Nov 30, 2017
Source ID
10.1002/adfm.201704797

Entities

People

  • Bhupal Kattel
  • Judy Z. Wu
  • Maogang Gong
  • Puja Adhikari
  • Qingfeng Liu
  • Ti Wang
  • Wai‐lun Chan
  • Wai‐yim Ching
  • Youpin Gong

Organizations

  • Army Research Office
  • National Science Foundation
  • Southern University of Science and Technology
  • United States Department of Energy
  • University of Kansas
  • University of Missouri

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Semiconductor Device Technology

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene