Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
1] Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697, USA [2] Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
Nat Chem. 2014 Jul;6(7):596-602. doi: 10.1038/nchem.1960. Epub 2014 Jun 1.
Proton-conducting materials play a central role in many renewable energy and bioelectronics technologies, including fuel cells, batteries and sensors. Thus, much research effort has been expended to develop improved proton-conducting materials, such as ceramic oxides, solid acids, polymers and metal-organic frameworks. Within this context, bulk proton conductors from naturally occurring proteins have received somewhat less attention than other materials, which is surprising given the potential modularity, tunability and processability of protein-based materials. Here, we report proton conductivity for thin films composed of reflectin, a cephalopod structural protein. Bulk reflectin has a proton conductivity of ~2.6 × 10(-3) S cm(-1) at 65 °C, a proton transport activation energy of ~0.2 eV and a proton mobility of ~7 × 10(-3) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). These figures of merit are similar to those reported for state-of-the-art artificial proton conductors and make it possible to use reflectin in protein-based protonic transistors. Our findings may hold implications for the next generation of biocompatible proton-conducting materials and protonic devices.
质子导体材料在许多可再生能源和生物电子技术中起着核心作用，包括燃料电池、电池和传感器。因此，人们投入了大量的研究努力来开发改进的质子导体材料，如陶瓷氧化物、固体酸、聚合物和金属有机骨架。在这种情况下，天然存在的蛋白质的体相质子导体受到的关注比其他材料要少，考虑到基于蛋白质的材料的潜在模块性、可调谐性和可加工性，这令人惊讶。在这里，我们报告了由反射蛋白组成的薄膜的质子电导率。在 65°C 时，大块反射蛋白的质子电导率约为 2.6×10(-3) S cm(-1)，质子输运活化能约为 0.2eV，质子迁移率约为 7×10(-3)cm(2)V(-1)s(-1)。这些性能与报道的最先进的人工质子导体相当，这使得反射蛋白能够用于基于蛋白质的质子晶体管中。我们的发现可能对下一代生物相容性质子导体材料和质子器件具有重要意义。
