Hybrid biomimetic photoconverters can be efficiently developed by covalent bioconjugation of suitable light harvesting organic fluorophores with a bacterial photosynthetic protein, the Reaction Center (RC). These hybrids are promising materials for photovoltaics, photocatalysis and biosensing. We demonstrate that, by properly tailoring the organic antenna molecules, the photoconversion efficiency of hybrids can be significantly enhanced versus the native protein. Moreover, photoactivated currents can be actually generated in photoconductor devices by radiating RC biomolecules covalently attached to the surface of an organic semiconductor layer.
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