Near-Metallic Behavior of Warm Holoferritin Molecules on a Gold(111) Surface
- 24 September 2010
- journal article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Langmuir
- Vol. 26 (20), 16005-16012
- https://doi.org/10.1021/la101776m
Abstract
Ferritin, the iron-storage protein, holds great potential for bioelectronic applications because of the presence of an electronically conducting iron core. We have applied scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), a high-resolution imaging method based on direct tunneling, to visualize the ferritin molecules both in the iron-containing holo form and in the iron-free apo form, and we have probed the electron flow through the two forms of this protein by measuring the current−voltage response using scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS). Clear distinctions could be made among the current−voltage responses of the metallic gold(111) substrate surface, holoferritin molecules, and apoferritin molecules at room temperature. When warmed to the near-physiological temperature of 40 °C, the current−voltage response of the holoferritin molecules exhibited no band gap resembling near-metallic behavior, and the apoferritin molecules exhibited only a reduced band gap.Keywords
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