Two-dimensional patterning of bacterial light-harvesting 2 complexes on lipid-modified gold surface

摘要

In a photosynthetic membrane, nano-scale patterns of light-harvesting (LH) pigment-protein complexes play an essential role in capturing photons and ensuring efficient excitation energy transfer. LH complexes 1 and 2 have drawn attention as building blocks of a nano-scale photoelectric device. For obtaining a device with efficiency comparable to that of the natural photosynthesis, a method has to be established for forming a two-dimensional assembly of LH complexes around a metal electrode. In this study, LH2 complexes isolated from Rb. sphaeroides were immobilized on a patterned gold surface. Quenching of photo-excitation energy by gold was prevented through the placement of a self-assembled phospholipid monolayer between the LH2 complexes and the gold surface.