Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, IIT@Polito Center, Torino, Italy.
Biomacromolecules. 2012 Nov 12;13(11):3503-9. doi: 10.1021/bm301063m. Epub 2012 Oct 17.
Molecular nanoelectronics is attracting much attention, because of the possibility to add functionalities to silicon-based electronics by means of intrinsically nanoscale biological or organic materials. The contact point between active molecules and electrodes must present, besides nanoscale size, a very low resistance. To realize Metal-Molecule-Metal junctions it is, thus, mandatory to be able to control the formation of useful nanometric contacts. The distance between the electrodes has to be of the same size of the molecule being put in between. Nanogaps technology is a perfect fit to fulfill this requirement. In this work, nanogaps between gold electrodes have been used to develop optoelectronic devices based on photoactive proteins. Reaction Centers (RC) and Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) have been inserted in nanogaps by drop casting. Electrical characterizations of the obtained structures were performed. It has been demonstrated that these nanodevices working principle is based on charge separation and photovoltage response. The former is induced by the application of a proper voltage on the RC, while the latter comes from the activation of BR by light of appropriate wavelengths.
分子纳米电子学引起了广泛关注，因为通过固有纳米级生物或有机材料有可能为硅基电子产品添加功能。除了纳米级尺寸外，活性分子与电极之间的接触点必须具有非常低的电阻。为了实现金属-分子-金属结，因此，必须能够控制有用的纳米级接触的形成。电极之间的距离必须与置于其间的分子的大小相同。纳米间隙技术非常适合满足这一要求。在这项工作中，金电极之间的纳米间隙被用于开发基于光活性蛋白的光电设备。反应中心（RC）和菌紫质（BR）通过滴铸插入纳米间隙。对所获得结构的电特性进行了研究。结果表明，这些纳米器件的工作原理基于电荷分离和光电压响应。前者是通过在 RC 上施加适当的电压来诱导的，而后者则来自于适当波长的光对 BR 的激活。
