Single-walled carbon nanotubes / light-harvesting proteins hybrids

Patricia Bertoncini, Olivier Chauvet

We are interested in the coupling between Single-walled Carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and photosensitive biological systems. So, we synthesized SWNT / light-harvesting proteins (such as bacteriorhodopsin or C-Phycocyanin) hybrids by immobilizing the proteins on the sidewall of the nanotubes, characterized their morphology, explored their optical and fluorescence properties. We show that radiative and non-radiative energy transfers from proteins to SWNTs can occur in these hybrids. We attribute importance to the understanding of the interactions between the CNTs and the biological systems involved and to the study of the conformational changes of the biomolecules that can occur.