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Application of Wide Band Gap Semiconductors to Increase Photocurrent in a Protein Based Photovoltaic Device

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2012

Arash Takshi ,
Houman Yaghoubi ,
Daniel Jun ,
Rafael Saer ,
Ali Mahmoudzadeh ,
John D. Madden  and
J. Thomas Beatty
Arash Takshi
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida (USF),Tampa FL 33620, U.S.A.
Houman Yaghoubi
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida (USF),Tampa FL 33620, U.S.A.
Daniel Jun
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Rafael Saer
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Ali Mahmoudzadeh
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Advanced Materials & Process Engineering Lab, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
John D. Madden
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Advanced Materials & Process Engineering Lab, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
J. Thomas Beatty
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
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Abstract

Reaction centers (RCs) from natural photosynthetic cells are photoactive proteins, which generate electron-hole pairs in presence of light. In a new approach presented in this work, a solution of suspended RCs with mediators has been applied as the electrolyte to build electrochemical based photovoltaic (PV) devices. In this approach, the mediators transfer charges from the RCs to the electrodes (indirect charge transfer). Various metallic and wide bandgap semiconducting materials, including Carbon, Au, Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), SnO2, WO3, have been tested as the electrodes. Among all WO3, which is a semiconductor, have shown the largest photocurrent density with an amount of ∼5.1 μA/cm2. The results show that the material of the electrode can affect the rates of the reactions in the cell. Choosing an appropriate material for the electrode, the charge transfer from the mediators to the electrode would be rectified to achieve a large photocurrent.

Keywords

biomaterialphotovoltaicsemiconducting
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1414: Symposium HH – Bioelectronics–Materials, Properties and Applications , 2012 , mrsf11-1414-hh07-01
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

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