Advanced biohybrid lighting and photovoltaic devices

Project Information

InOutBioLight

Grant agreement ID: 816856

DOI

10.3030/816856

EC signature date 19 December 2018

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 May 2027

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 999 188,00

EU contribution

€ 1 999 188,00

Coordinated by

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - InOutBioLight (Advanced biohybrid lighting and photovoltaic devices)

Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2025-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Proteins are a paradigm materials programmed to optimize their bio-functionality (fluorescence, redox behaviors, catalytic activity, transport phenomena, etc.) in living organisms. While we have mastered an excellent genetic toolbox to tune protein functionality in-vivo for imaging, sensing, etc., their stabilization has been unsuccessful, limiting the progress of the emerging protein-based optoelectronic technologies, such as lighting and photovoltaic devices, with respect to device fabrication using traditional techniques and architectures as well as standard operation conditions. This becomes more urgent when recent proof-of-concept functional protein-based materials/components can replace rare earth and/or toxic components of our current technology without reducing performance. In this context, InOutBiolight aims at understanding the protein-polymer stabilization interaction, enhancing their mechanical, thermal, color-converting, and light-guiding features, and iii) advancing biohybrid lighting and photovoltaic technologies. The latter are placed at the forefront of the EU efforts for low-cost production and efficient consumption of electricity, a critical issue for a sustainable development of our society.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Over this period, we aimed at i) understanding fluorescent protein polymer interactions and degradation mechanism under device operation conditions, ii) enhancing hybrid lighting-emitting diodes (HLEDs) with a particular focus on red-emitting devices, and iii) realizing the first-steps towards FP-based solar cells. The actions included the study of i) natural additives to enhance stability, ii) new polymers designs and iii) new host:guest hybrid FP-silica nanoparticles. We encountered that polysaccharides features a strong binding energy and excellent buried volume at the FP surface H-channels leading to enhanced photo-thermal-stabilities. Here, the use of hydroxypropylcellulose and archetypal red-emitting FPs (mCherry and SmuRFP) allowed us to reach HLEDs with outstanding stabilities (2600 h/108 days for SmuRFP and 3 h for mCherry) compared to best devices with perylenediimides (<700 h) and host:guest FPs (<800 h). The low mCherry stability encouraged us to study its degradation under ambient/inert atmospheres, revealing a photo-induced cis-trans isomerization and the oxygen/water effects on the deactivation. Based on these findings, we focused on a new configuration using polyvinyl alcohol derivatives, in which crystallinity and trapped water (stiffness and oxygen/moisture barriers) are controlled by hydroxylation, reaching devices with a final lifetime of 2700 h. Finally, FP-silica nanoparticles (FP surface modification by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane followed by one-pot sol-gel chemistry) were achieved. The SiO2 shielding retains the FP-emission in dry air-storage at 25 °C and 50 °C and toluene/dichloromethane over a year. Water-free coatings showed strongly reduced heat generation/transfer and slowed down photo-induced deactivation, leading to 130 days device stabilities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The lighting device stability has been increased from 50 h to 2700 h, paving the way to develop highly stable white HLEDs in the near future.
The impact of additives will be more easily understood/predicted using a experimental protocol to characterize polymer coatings that could be of high interest for other protein-based technological fields on catalysis, electrical conductors, etc.;
Fluorescent protein stability in organic solvents has been limited to <24 h and we have shown that a sol-gel chemistry is effective (1 year stable), but limits application by the nature of the silica shell (dielectric, scattering events, etc.). This could be solved if other semiconducting metal oxides are applied.
in-situ sol-gel chemistry on metal oxide electrodes could also be effective to provide protein-solar cells with enhanced stabilities in which the prior-art showed stabilities of a few second to minutes.

Fresh and 1 year FP-Silica toluene suspension (left) and their lighting devices (right)