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Biophysical Journal 84:2502-2507 (2003)
© 2003 The Biophysical Society

High-Performance Photovoltaic Behavior of Oriented Purple Membrane Polymer Composite Films

Liangmin Zhang*, Tingying Zeng*, Kristie Cooper{dagger} and Richard O. Claus*,{dagger}

* Fiber & Electro-Optics Research Center, Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0356; and {dagger} NanoSonic, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Richard O. Claus, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 106 Plantation Rd., Blacksburg, VA 24061. Tel.: 540-231-4158; Fax: 540-231-4561; E-mail: roclaus{at}vt.edu.

The photovoltaic behavior of films in which bacteriorhodopsin molecules are embedded in a polyvinyl alcohol matrix has been investigated by using both pulsed laser excitation and regular light illumination. Response times as short as milliseconds, photocurrents as great as 120 µA/cm2, and photovoltages as large as 3.8 V have been obtained. A theoretical model has been developed and used to extract several physical parameters and fit the experimental results. Some important intrinsic parameters have been obtained. Theoretical results indicate that the average displacement of the excited protons is on the order of several tens of microns. Other curve fits show that photocurrent and photovoltage increase linearly with external field, but increase exponentially with flash power. These theoretical models and results can be extended to other kinds of photoactive polymeric materials.




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C. Horn and C. Steinem
Photocurrents Generated by Bacteriorhodopsin Adsorbed on Nano-Black Lipid Membranes
Biophys. J., August 1, 2005; 89(2): 1046 - 1054.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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