Integration of photosynthetic protein molecular complexes in solid-state electronic devices

Plants and photosynthetic bacteria contain protein-molecular complexes that harvest photons with nearly optimum quantum yield and an expected power conversion efficiency exceeding 20%. In this work, we demonstrate the integration of electrically active photosynthetic protein-molecular complexes in solid-state devices, realizing photodetectors and photovoltaic cells with internal quantum efficiencies of approximately 12%. Electronic integration of devices is achieved by self-assembling an oriented monolayer of photosynthetic complexes, stabilizing them with surfactant peptides, and then coating them with a protective organic semiconductor.