Prof. Chanoch Carmeli

Photosynthetic reaction center proteins evolved some 3.5 billion years ago to become extremely efficient light energy converters. They catalyze the most efficient early steps of the photosynthetic process that consist of the absorption and the conversion of light energy to electrical potential. Reaction centers such as photosystem I (PS I) are membrane protein-chlorophyll complexes. PSI functions like photodiode converting light quanta to electrical charges at quantum efficiency of ~100%, which is by far higher than any semiconductor photodiode. The high absorption cross section, the high quantum efficiency and the nano size dimensions make PS I a good candidate for use in hybrid protein-solids optoelectronic devices.

Since 2005

L. Frolov, Y. Rosenwaks, C. Carmeli, & I. Carmeli,  Fabrication of a Photoelectronic Device by Direct Chemical Binding of the Photosynthetic Reaction Center Protein to Metal Surfaces,  Adv. Mater. 2005, 17, 2434–2437. 

I. Carmeli, M. Mangold, L. Frolov, B. Zebli, C. Carmeli, S. Richetr  and A. Holleitner, Photosynthetic Reaction Center Covalently Bound to Carbon Nanotubes, Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 3901–3905. 

I. Carmeli, L. Frolov, C. Carmeli and S. Richter, Photovoltaic Activity of Photosystem I-Based Self-Assembled Monolayer, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129, 12352-12353. 

L. Frolov, O. Wilner,  C. Carmeli and I. Carmeli, Fabrication of Oriented Multilayers of Photosystem I Proteins on Solid Surfaces by Auto-Metallization, Adv. Mater. 2008, 20, 263–266. 

L. Frolov, Y. Rosenwaks, S. Richter, C. Carmeli and I. Carmeli, Photoelectric Junctions Between GaAs and Photosynthetic Reaction Center Protein, J. Phys. Chem. C. 2008, 112, 13426-13430. 

L. Sepunaru, I. Tsimberov, L. Forolov, C. Carmeli , Itai Carmeli, and Yossi Rosenwaks. Picosecond Electron Transfer From Photosynthetic Reaction Center Protein to GaAs. Nano Lett. 2009, 9, 2751-2755. 

X-M. Gong , Y. Hochman , T. Lev , G. Bunker , C. Carmeli, The Structure of Genetically Modified Iron–Sulfur Cluster Fx in Photosystem I as Determined by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 2009, 1787, 97–104 

Patents

PCT/IL2006/000241; WO 2006/090381, MOLECULAR OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING THE SAME

PCT/IL2007/001045; WO 2008/023372, OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING THE SAME (Metal).

PCT/IL2007/001046; WO 2008/023373; OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING THE SAME (Semiconductor).

PTC/IL filed 19th February 2009, PHOTOACTIVE NANOSTRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME

Provisional # 61/213,295 2009: FABRICATION OF PHOTOELECTRONIC DEVICES FROM PHOTOSYSTEM I CRYSTALS.