Inspired by biology, scientists create a new type of nanomaterial that can capture light energy

According to foreign media reports, inspired by nature, researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and collaborators from Washington State University have created a new type of material that can capture light energy.
This material provides an efficient artificial light collection system with potential applications in photovoltaics and bioimaging.
This research provides a basis for overcoming the difficult challenges involved in creating layered functional organic-inorganic hybrid materials.
Nature provides examples of mixed materials with layered structures, such as bones and teeth.
These materials usually exhibit precise atomic arrangements, enabling them to achieve many special properties, such as increased strength and toughness.
PNNL materials scientist, Chen Chunlong, the corresponding author of this study, and his collaborators have created a new material that reflects the complexity of the structure and function of natural hybrid materials.
This material combines the programmability of protein-like synthetic molecules with the complexity of silicate-based nanoclusters to create a new class of highly robust nanocrystals.
Then they programmed this two-dimensional hybrid material to create an efficient artificial light collection system.
"The sun is our most important energy source," Chen Chunlong said.
"We want to see if we can program our hybrid nanocrystals to harvest light energy-just like natural plants and photosynthetic bacteria-while achieving the high robustness and operability seen in synthetic systems.
"The results of this study were published in "Science Progress" on May 14.
Big dream, small crystals Although these types of layered structure materials are extremely difficult to create, the multidisciplinary team of scientists where Chen Chunlong works combined their expertise to synthesize a molecule that can form the sequence definition of this arrangement.
The researchers created an altered protein-like structure called a peptoid, and attached a precise silicate-based cage structure (abbreviated as POSS) to one end of it.
Then they found that under the right conditions, they could induce these molecules to self-assemble into two-dimensional nanosheets of perfectly shaped crystals.
This creates another layer of complexity similar to cell membranes, similar to those seen in natural layered structures, while retaining the high stability and enhanced mechanical properties of individual molecules.
Chen Chunlong said: “As a material scientist, nature has provided me with a lot of inspiration.
Whenever I want to design a molecule to do something specific, such as a drug delivery tool, I almost always find a natural one.
Examples to simulate my design.
" Design bio-inspired materials once the team successfully created these POSS-eptoid nanocrystals and proved their unique characteristics, including high programmable Sex, they began to take advantage of these characteristics.
They program the material to include specific functional groups at specific locations and distances between molecules.
Because these nanocrystals combine the strength and stability of POSS and the variability of Peptoid building blocks, the programming possibilities are endless.
Scientists once again looked for inspiration from nature and created a system that can capture light energy in the same way as pigments found in plants.
They added a pair of special "donor" molecules and cage-like structures that can bind a "acceptor" molecule at a precise location within the nanocrystal.
The donor molecule absorbs light of a specific wavelength and transfers light energy to the acceptor molecule.
The receptor molecules then emit light of different wavelengths.
This newly created system shows an energy transfer efficiency of over 96%, making it one of the most effective water-based light collection systems reported to date.
Demonstrating the use of POSS-peptoids in light harvesting To demonstrate the use of this system, the researchers then inserted nanocrystals into living human cells as biocompatible probes for live cell imaging.
When a certain color of light shines on the cell and the receptor molecules are present, the cell will emit light of different colors.
When the acceptor molecule is not present, no color change is observed.
Although the team has only demonstrated the usefulness of this system for live cell imaging so far, the enhanced properties and high programmability of this two-dimensional hybrid material convinced them that this is one of many applications.
Chen Chunlong said: "Although this research is still in its early stages, the unique structural characteristics and high energy transfer of POSS-eptoid two-dimensional nanocrystals may be applied to many different systems, from photovoltaics to photocatalysis.
He and his colleagues Will continue to explore the application of this new hybrid material.
" molecular.
The donor molecule absorbs light of a specific wavelength and transfers light energy to the acceptor molecule.
The receptor molecules then emit light of different wavelengths.
This newly created system shows an energy transfer efficiency of over 96%, making it one of the most effective water-based light collection systems reported to date.
Demonstrating the use of POSS-peptoids in light harvesting To demonstrate the use of this system, the researchers then inserted nanocrystals into living human cells as biocompatible probes for live cell imaging.
When a certain color of light shines on the cell and the receptor molecules are present, the cell will emit light of different colors.
When the acceptor molecule is not present, no color change is observed.
Although the team has only demonstrated the usefulness of this system for live cell imaging so far, the enhanced properties and high programmability of this two-dimensional hybrid material convinced them that this is one of many applications.
Chen Chunlong said: "Although this research is still in its early stages, the unique structural characteristics and high energy transfer of POSS-eptoid two-dimensional nanocrystals may be applied to many different systems, from photovoltaics to photocatalysis.
He and his colleagues Will continue to explore the application of this new hybrid material.
" molecular.
The donor molecule absorbs light of a specific wavelength and transfers light energy to the acceptor molecule.
The receptor molecules then emit light of different wavelengths.
This newly created system shows an energy transfer efficiency of over 96%, making it one of the most effective water-based light collection systems reported to date.
Demonstrating the use of POSS-peptoids in light harvesting To demonstrate the use of this system, the researchers then inserted nanocrystals into living human cells as biocompatible probes for live cell imaging.
When a certain color of light shines on the cell and the receptor molecules are present, the cell will emit light of different colors.
When the acceptor molecule is not present, no color change is observed.
Although the team has only demonstrated the usefulness of this system for live cell imaging so far, the enhanced properties and high programmability of this two-dimensional hybrid material convinced them that this is one of many applications.
Chen Chunlong said: "Although this research is still in its early stages, the unique structural characteristics and high energy transfer of POSS-eptoid two-dimensional nanocrystals may be applied to many different systems, from photovoltaics to photocatalysis.
He and his colleagues Will continue to explore the application of this new hybrid material.
"