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Nano Research 2024, 17(2): 875-881 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6398-z
Research Article | Issue | Published: 12 January 2024

In vivo polydopamine coating of Rhodobacter sphaeroides for enhanced electron transfer

Show Author's Information Rossella Labarile1( ),  Danilo Vona2,  Maria Varsalona1,2,  Matteo Grattieri1,2,  Melania Reggente3,  Roberto Comparelli1,  Gianluca M. Farinola2,  Fabian Fischer4,5,  Ardemis A. Boghossian3,  Massimo Trotta1( )
Istituto per i Processi Chimico Fisici, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari 70126, Italy
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Bari 70126, Italy
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
Institute of Life Technologies, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, 1950 Sion, Switzerland
Institute for Renewable Energy, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, 1950 Sion, Switzerland
Keywords:
bioelectronics, polydopamine, electron transfer, biophotovoltaics, photosynthetic bacteria, purple bacteria
Topics:
Bacteria BiocompatibilityBioelectric phenomenaBiomaterials BiopolymersBiosynthesisBiotechnologyNanobiotechnology
Cite this article:
Labarile R, Vona D, Varsalona M, et al. In vivo polydopamine coating of Rhodobacter sphaeroides for enhanced electron transfer. Nano Research, 2024, 17(2): 875-881. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6398-z
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Recent advances in coupling light-harvesting microorganisms with electronic components have led to a new generation of biohybrid devices based on microbial photocatalysts. These devices are limited by the poorly conductive interface between phototrophs and synthetic materials that inhibit charge transfer. This study focuses on overcoming this bottleneck through the metabolically-driven encapsulation of photosynthetic cells with a bio-inspired conductive polymer. Cells of the purple non sulfur bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides were coated with a polydopamine (PDA) nanoparticle layer via the self-polymerization of dopamine under anaerobic conditions. The treated cells show preserved light absorption of the photosynthetic pigments in the presence of dopamine concentrations ranging between 0.05–3.5 mM. The thickness and nanoparticle formation of the membrane-associated PDA matrix were further shown to vary with the dopamine concentrations in this range. Compared to uncoated cells, the encapsulated cells show up to a 20-fold enhancement in transient photocurrent measurements under mediatorless conditions. The biologically synthesized PDA can thus act as a matrix for electronically coupling the light-harvesting metabolisms of cells with conductive surfaces.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

In vivo polydopamine coating of Rhodobacter sphaeroides for enhanced electron transfer

Show Author's information Rossella Labarile1( ), Danilo Vona2, Maria Varsalona1,2, Matteo Grattieri1,2, Melania Reggente3, Roberto Comparelli1, Gianluca M. Farinola2, Fabian Fischer4,5, Ardemis A. Boghossian3, Massimo Trotta1( )
Istituto per i Processi Chimico Fisici, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari 70126, Italy
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Bari 70126, Italy
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
Institute of Life Technologies, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, 1950 Sion, Switzerland
Institute for Renewable Energy, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, 1950 Sion, Switzerland

Abstract

Recent advances in coupling light-harvesting microorganisms with electronic components have led to a new generation of biohybrid devices based on microbial photocatalysts. These devices are limited by the poorly conductive interface between phototrophs and synthetic materials that inhibit charge transfer. This study focuses on overcoming this bottleneck through the metabolically-driven encapsulation of photosynthetic cells with a bio-inspired conductive polymer. Cells of the purple non sulfur bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides were coated with a polydopamine (PDA) nanoparticle layer via the self-polymerization of dopamine under anaerobic conditions. The treated cells show preserved light absorption of the photosynthetic pigments in the presence of dopamine concentrations ranging between 0.05–3.5 mM. The thickness and nanoparticle formation of the membrane-associated PDA matrix were further shown to vary with the dopamine concentrations in this range. Compared to uncoated cells, the encapsulated cells show up to a 20-fold enhancement in transient photocurrent measurements under mediatorless conditions. The biologically synthesized PDA can thus act as a matrix for electronically coupling the light-harvesting metabolisms of cells with conductive surfaces.

Keywords: bioelectronics, polydopamine, electron transfer, biophotovoltaics, photosynthetic bacteria, purple bacteria

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 29 July 2023
Revised: 04 December 2023
Accepted: 05 December 2023
Published: 12 January 2024
Issue date: February 2024

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2023

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

M. T., R. L., D. V., and G. M. F acknowledge the useful discussion with Dr. Gabriella Buscemi. Authors wish to thank Mr. Giovanni Lasorella for his technical support. This work was funded by the Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique, project Phosbury-Photosynthetic bacteria in Self-assembled Biocompatible coatings for the transduction of energy (Project Nr CRSII5_205925/1). M. G. acknowledges the funding from Fondazione CON IL SUD, Grant “Brains to South 2018” (project number 2018-PDR-00914).

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