Engineered Nano-bio Hybrid Electronic Platform for Solar Energy Harvesting

Abstract

Bacteriorhodopsin is an optoelectric protein found in the membrane of the extremophile bacterium Halobacterium salinarum. The protein creates a charge gradient across its 6 nm thickness and, when integrated with inorganic electron generation and transport materials such as titania nanotubes, may find use in a new class of photon harvesters. Bacteriorhodopsin strongly absorbs light near the 570 nm wavelength but its photoelectric activity is now shown to increase by at least 35% when integrated with ultraviolet (UV)-scavenging quantum dots.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA592162

Entities

People

  • Craig Friedrich
  • Govind Mallick
  • Mark H Griep
  • Shashi P Karna

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Archaeal Proteins
  • Bacteriorhodopsin
  • Cell Membrane
  • Cells
  • Chemistry
  • Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
  • Electrons
  • Energy
  • Energy Harvesting
  • Fullerenes
  • Materials
  • Membranes
  • Nanomaterials
  • Proteins
  • Quantum Dots
  • Solar Cells
  • Solar Energy

Fields of Study

  • Chemistry

Readers

  • Molecular Genetics
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Spectroscopy.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Quantum Computing