Electron transport through two interacting channels in Azurin-based solid- state junctions

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Li, Ping'an; Bera, Sudipta; Kumar-Sexena, Shailendra; Pecht, Israel; Sheves, Mordechai; Cahen, David; Selzer, Yoram
• 署名单位: Tel Aviv University; Weizmann Institute of Science; SRM Institute of Science & Technology Chennai; Weizmann Institute of Science
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-13236
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2405156121
• 发表日期: 2024-08-13
• 关键词: spectroscopy; DYNAMICS; TRANSITION; molecules; rates; gold

摘要

The fundamental question of what is the transport path of electrons through proteins? initially introduced while studying long-range electron transfer between localized redox centers in proteins in vivo is also highly relevant to the transport properties of solid-state, dry metal-protein-metal junctions. Here, we report conductance measurements of such junctions, Au- ( Azurin monolayer ensemble)- Bismuth (Bi) ones, with well-defined nanopore geometry and similar to 10(3) proteins/pore. Our results can be understood as follows. (1) Transport is via two interacting conducting channels, characterized by different spatial and time scales. The slow and spatially localized channel is associated with the Cu center of Azurin and the fast delocalized one with the protein's polypeptide matrix. Transport via the slow channel is by a sequential (noncoherent) process and in the second one by direct, off-resonant tunneling. (2) The two channels are capacitively coupled. Thus, with a change in charge occupation of the weakly coupled (metal center) channel, the broad energy level manifold, responsible for off-resonance tunneling, shifts, relative to the electrodes' Fermi levels. In this process, the off-resonance (fast) channel dominates transport, and the slow (redox) channel, while contributing only negligibly directly, significantly affects transport by intramolecular gating.