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Updated: May 18, 2026

In Situ SIMS and IR Spectroscopy of Well-defined Surfaces Prepared by Soft Landing of Mass-selected Ions
Published on: June 16, 2014
Characterization and deposition of various light-harvesting antenna complexes by electrospray atomization
Vivek B Shah1, Gregory S Orf, Sean Reisch
1Aerosol and Air Quality Research Laboratory, Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Abstract:
Photosynthetic organisms have light-harvesting complexes that absorb and transfer energy efficiently to reaction centers. Light-harvesting complexes (LHCs) have received increased attention in order to understand the natural photosynthetic process and also to utilize their unique properties in fabricating efficient artificial and bio-hybrid devices to capture solar energy. In this work, LHCs with different architectures, sizes, and absorption spectra, such as chlorosomes, Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) protein, LH2 complex, and phycobilisome have been characterized by an electrospray-scanning mobility particle-sizer system (ES-SMPS). The size measured by ES-SMPS for FMO, chlorosomes, LH2, and phycobilisome were 6.4, 23.3, 9.5, and 33.4 nm, respectively. These size measurements were compared with values measured by dynamic light scattering and those reported in the literature. These complexes were deposited onto a transparent substrate by electrospray deposition. Absorption and fluorescence spectra of the deposited LHCs were measured. It was observed that the LHCs have light absorption and fluorescence spectra similar to that in solution, demonstrating the viability of the process.
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