Plasmon-induced absorption of blind chlorophylls in photosynthetic proteins assembled on silver nanowires. Issue 29 (13th July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Szalkowski, Marcin; Janna Olmos, Julian David; Buczyńska, Dorota; Maćkowski, Sebastian; Kowalska, Dorota; Kargul, Joanna
• Is Part Of: Nanoscale. Volume 9:Issue 29(2017)
• Page Start: 10475
• Page End: 10486
• Publication Date: 2017-07-13
• Subjects: Nanoscience -- Periodicals; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; 620.505
• DOI: 10.1039/c7nr03866f
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2040-3364

Abstract

Abstract : A novel highly ordered plasmonic nanoarchitecture, with significantly improved light-harvesting properties, is generated by site-specific conjugation of photosystem I with silver nanowires via cytochrome c . Abstract : We demonstrate that controlled assembly of eukaryotic photosystem I with its associated light harvesting antenna complex (PSI-LHCI) on plasmonically active silver nanowires (AgNWs) substantially improves the optical functionality of such a novel biohybrid nanostructure. By comparing fluorescence intensities measured for PSI-LHCI complex randomly oriented on AgNWs and the results obtained for the PSI-LHCI/cytochrome c 553 (cyt c 553 ) bioconjugate with AgNWs we conclude that the specific binding of photosynthetic complexes with defined uniform orientation yields selective excitation of a pool of chlorophyll (Chl) molecules that are otherwise almost non-absorbing. This is remarkable, as this study shows for the first time that plasmonic excitations in metallic nanostructures can not only be used to enhance native absorption of photosynthetic pigments, but also – by employing cyt c 553 as the conjugation cofactor – to activate the specific Chl pools as the absorbing sites only when the uniform and well-defined orientation of PSI-LHCI with respect to plasmonic nanostructures is achieved. As absorption of PSI alone is comparatively low, our approach lends itself as an innovative approach to outperform the reported-to-date biohybrid devices with respect to solar energy conversion.