REDOX METALLOPROTEINS ON METAL SURFACES AS HYBRID SYSTEMS FOR BIONANODEVICES: AN EXTENSIVE CHARACTERIZATION AT THE SINGLE MOLECULE LEVEL

Molecular bioelectronics is a rapidly growing field at the junction of biochemistry, physics and surface science, which combines selectivity of biology with processing power of modern microelectronics, by integrating biomaterials with electronic elements. Redox metalloproteins have gained considerable interest in view of such applications: their electron transfer (ET) capabilities and possibility of gating redox activity, as well as nanoscale dimensions make them a good candidate for incorporation in hybrid submicrometer-sized electronic components. The ability to connect functional redox proteins to electrodes, preferably by covalent linkage to ensure good electrical contact between molecules and conducting substrate, is a fundamental step for such applications, and requires full characterization of the adsorbed proteins in terms of topology, spectroscopy, ET properties and conduction, at the single molecule level. We address this issue by following two alternative approaches, namely focusing our attention on both wild type redox proteins, directly chemisorbed onto gold electrodes via cystein