title: Electrically bistable properties of layer-by-layer assembled multilayers based on protein nanoparticles.
abstract: Electrochemical properties of redox proteins, which can cause the reversible changes in the resistance according to their redox reactions in solution, are of the fundamental and practical importance in bioelectrochemical applications. These redox properties often depend on the chemical activity of transition metal ions as cofactors within the active sites of proteins. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the reversible resistance changes in dried protein films based on ferritin nanoparticles can be caused by the externally applied voltage as a result of charge trap/release of Fe(III)/Fe(II) redox couples. We also show that one ferritin nanoparticle of about 12 nm size can be operated as a nanoscale-memory device, and furthermore the layer-by-layer assembled protein multilayer devices can be extended to bioinspired electronics with adjustable memory performance via molecular level manipulation.
authors.affiliation: School of Advanced Materials Engineering, Kookmin University, Jeongneung-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-702, Korea.
authors.forename: Yongmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Younghoon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyunhee
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.forename: Jinhan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D005293:Ferritins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D011485:Protein Binding; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins