Time-resolved studies of energy transfer in thin films of green and red fluorescent proteins
Date
15/01/2018Author
Funder
Grant ID
640012
ep/l017008/1
PCIG12-GA-2012-334407
659213
Keywords
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Biologically derived fluorescent proteins are attractive candidates for lasing and sensing due to their excellent optical properties, including their high quantum yield, spectral tunability and robustness against concentration quenching. Here, we report a time-resolved study of the fluorescence dynamics of thin films of Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein (EGFP), the red-emitting tandem-dimer protein tdTomato and blends of EGFP and tdTomato. We characterized the exciton dynamics by using spectrally and time-resolved measurements of fluorescence and observed a threefold reduction in lifetime when going from solution to thin film, down to 1 ns and 0.6 ns for EGFP and tdTomato, respectively. This finding is attributed to a dipole-dipole non-radiative Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET) in solid-state. We also studied the temporal characteristics of FRET in blended thin films and found increased non-radiative transfer rates. Finally, we report efficient sensitisation of a semiconductor surface with a protein thin film. Such a configuration may have important implications for energy harvesting in hybrid organic-inorganic solar cells and other hybrid optoelectronic devices.
Citation
Zajac , J M , Schubert , M , Roland , T , Keum , C , Samuel , I D W & Gather , M C 2018 , ' Time-resolved studies of energy transfer in thin films of green and red fluorescent proteins ' , Advanced Functional Materials , vol. Early View . https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201706300
Publication
Advanced Functional Materials
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1616-3028Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201706300
Description
This research was financially supported by the European Research Council of the European Union (ERC Grant Agreements No. 640012/ABLASE and 321305/EXCITON), by the Scottish Funding Council (through SUPA), by EPSRC (through the CDT Capital Equipment funding stream, EP/L017008/1) and by a European Commission Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (PCIG12-GA-2012-334407). MS acknowledges funding by the European Commission through a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (659213). IDWS acknowledges support from a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.Collections
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