Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2026

Integration of Light Trapping Silver Nanostructures in Hydrogenated Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells by Transfer Printing
Published on: November 9, 2015
Tailoring plasmonic and electrostatic field effects to maximize solar energy conversion by bacteriorhodopsin, the
Chun-Wan Yen1, Steven C Hayden, Erik C Dreaden
1Laser Dynamics Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0400, United States.
Abstract:
We have explored the plasmonic field enhancement of current production from bacteriorhodopsin (bR) by maximizing the blue light effect, where the influx of blue photons absorbed by the long-lived M intermediate drastically shortens the time scale of the bR photocycle, leading to current enhancement. To this end, we used three approaches in our solution-based cell: (1) We improved the charge carrier separation in solution through the use of a proton-selective Nafion membrane. (2) We maximized the plasmonic surface field effects by selecting the capping polymer with minimum surface field screening and best nanoparticle stability. (3) We selected the plasmonic nanoparticle with the strongest plasmonic field whose surface plasmon resonance has the largest spectral overlap with the blue light absorbing M-intermediate. Theoretical models are used to explain experimental results, which show a 40 nm cuboidal nanoparticle capped with 55k PVP polymer to give the best photocurrent enhancement. Enhanced by this particle, bR in our Nafion membrane solution cell gave a photocurrent of 0.21 μA/cm(3), which is 5000 times larger than the published results for thin film bR electrochemical cells even with an applied bias. Additional possible enhancements are proposed.
Related Concept Videos
The Antenna Complex
Anoxygenic Photosynthesis
Channel Rhodopsins
Rhodopsins belong to the family of cell surface proteins called G-protein coupled receptors,...
Evolution of New Traits in Microbes
Oxygenic Photosynthesis
Photosystem I
Both these photosystems work in concert. An excited electron from PSII is relayed to PSI via an electron transport chain in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast, which is comprised of the carrier molecule plastoquinone, the dual-protein cytochrome complex, and plastocyanin. As electrons move between PSII and PSI, they lose energy and must be re-energized...

