A new study from the LEO group has been published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Extracellular Electron Transfer from Photosynthetic Microalgae Modulates the Response of Electrolyte-Gated Organic Transistors
Authors: Alessandro Paradisi, Alexandra Palkina, Matteo Sensi, Marcello Berto, Gabriele Delmonte, Luca Dall’Olio, Carlo Augusto Bortolotti, Fabio Biscarini, and Giulia Di Rocco.
The study introduces a biohybrid electrolyte-gated organic transistor (EGOT) that integrates living photosynthetic microalgae into its gate electrode.
Under illumination, photosynthesis drives extracellular electron transfer from the microalgae to the electrode. This light-induced electron flow modulates the transistor current through a faradaic gating mechanism, directly connecting cellular metabolic activity with the electronic response of the device.
The mechanism was demonstrated in both depletion- and accumulation-mode EGOTs and originates at the interface between the gate electrode and the living biofilm, rather than from direct photoactivation of the organic semiconductor.
The results show how the metabolic pathways of living organisms can be interfaced with organic electronics, opening new opportunities for sustainable energy conversion, biosensing and low-power bioelectronic devices.
This research was carried out in collaboration with Prof. Giulia Di Rocco within the PhOLcs – Photosynthesis for Organic Light-Powered Electronics project, funded by the PRIN PNRR 2022 programme.
Read the article in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces:
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6c15751