Órdenes-Aenishanslins Nicolás, Anziani-Ostuni Giovanna, Quezada Carolina P, Espinoza-González Rodrigo, Bravo Denisse, Pérez-Donoso José M
BioNanotechnology and Microbiology Laboratory, Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile.
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Biotecnología y Materiales, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Front Microbiol. 2019 Jul 11;10:1587. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01587. eCollection 2019.
In the present work, we report the use of bacterial cells for the production of CdS/CdSe Core/Shell quantum dots (QDs), a complex nanostructure specially designed to improve their performance as photosensitizer in photovoltaic devices. The method requires the incorporation of L-cysteine, CdCl and NaSeO to cultures and allows a tight control of QDs properties. The obtained CdS/CdSe QDs were photophysically and structurally characterized. When compared to CdS QDs, the classical shift in the UV-visible spectra of Core/Shell nanostructures was observed in CdS/CdSe QDs. The nanosize, structure, and composition of Core/Shell QDs were confirmed by TEM and EDS analysis. QDs presented a size of approximately 12 nm (CdS) and 17 nm (CdS/CdSe) as determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS), whereas the fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra allowed to distinguish the presence of different biomolecules bound to both types of nanoparticles. An increased photostability was observed in CdS/CdSe nanoparticles when compared to CdS QDs. Finally, biosynthesized CdS/CdSe Core/Shell QDs were used as photosensitizers for quantum dots sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) and their photovoltaic parameters determined. As expected, the efficiency of solar cells sensitized with biological CdS/CdSe QDs increased almost 2.5 times when compared to cells sensitized with CdS QDs. This work is the first report of biological synthesis of CdS/CdSe Core/Shell QDs using bacterial cells and represents a significant contribution to the development of green and low-cost photovoltaic technologies.
在本研究中，我们报道了利用细菌细胞制备硫化镉/硒化镉核壳量子点（QDs），这种复杂的纳米结构经过特殊设计，旨在提高其作为光伏器件中光敏剂的性能。该方法需要将L-半胱氨酸、氯化镉和亚硒酸钠加入到培养物中，并能严格控制量子点的性质。对所制备的硫化镉/硒化镉量子点进行了光物理和结构表征。与硫化镉量子点相比，在硫化镉/硒化镉量子点的紫外-可见光谱中观察到了核壳纳米结构的经典光谱位移。通过透射电子显微镜（TEM）和能谱分析（EDS）证实了核壳量子点的纳米尺寸、结构和组成。通过动态光散射（DLS）测定，量子点的尺寸约为12nm（硫化镉）和17nm（硫化镉/硒化镉），而傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）则可以区分与两种类型纳米颗粒结合的不同生物分子的存在。与硫化镉量子点相比，硫化镉/硒化镉纳米颗粒的光稳定性有所提高。最后，将生物合成的硫化镉/硒化镉核壳量子点用作量子点敏化太阳能电池（QDSSCs）的光敏剂，并测定了其光伏参数。正如预期的那样，与用硫化镉量子点敏化的电池相比，用生物硫化镉/硒化镉量子点敏化的太阳能电池的效率提高了近2.5倍。这项工作是首次报道利用细菌细胞生物合成硫化镉/硒化镉核壳量子点，对绿色和低成本光伏技术的发展具有重要意义。
