Bio‐industrial Waste Silk Fibroin Protein and Carbon Nanotube‐Induced Carbonized Growth of One‐Dimensional ZnO‐based Bio‐nanosheets and their Enhanced Optoelectronic Properties

Abstract

High performance UV/Visible photodetectors are successfully fabricated from ZnO/fibroin protein-carbon nanotube (ZFP ) composites using a simple hydrothermal method. The as-fabricated ZnO nanorods (ZnO NRs) and ZFP nanostructures were measured under different light illuminations. The measurements showed the UV-light photoresponse of the as-fabricated ZFP nanostructures (55,555) to be approximately 26454 % higher than that of the as-prepared ZnO NRs (210). This photodetector can sense photons with energies considerably smaller (2.75 eV) than the band gap of ZnO (3.22 eV). It was observed that the finest distribution of fibroin and CNT into 1D ZnO resulted in rapid electron transportation and hole recombination via carbon/nitrogen dopants from the ZFP . Carbon dopants create new energy levels on the conduction band of the ZFP , which reduces the barrier height to allow for charge carrier transportation under light illumination. Moreover, the nitrogen dopants increase the adsorptivity and amount of oxygen vacancies in the ZFP so that it exhibits fast response/recovery times both in the dark and under light illumination. The selectivity of UV light among the other types of illumination can be ascribed to the deep-level energy traps (E ) of the ZFP . These significant features of ZFP lead to the excellent optical properties and creation of new pathways for the production of low-cost semiconductors and bio-waste protein based UV/Visible photodetectors.

Meso‐Reconstruction of Silk Fibroin based on Molecular and Nano‐Templates for Electronic Skin in Medical Applications

“…It follows by the recent researches that SF materials are suitable for application in advanced high-performance devices, including bio-flexible devices, [14,15] memory devices, [16,17] and optical devices. [18] Further, SF shows potential for the development of next-generation biocompatible electronic devices. [19] Flexible pressure sensors require sufficient sensitivity to record tiny vibrations (e.g., pulse waves) while withstanding substantial shaking (e.g., sport movements).…”

“…It follows by the recent researches that SF materials are suitable for application in advanced high‐performance devices, including bio‐flexible devices, [ 14,15 ] memory devices, [ 16,17 ] and optical devices. [ 18 ] Further, SF shows potential for the development of next‐generation biocompatible electronic devices. [ 19 ]…”

Advanced Stretchable Photodetectors: Strategies, Materials and Devices

“…Due to the fast transmission speed, 1D materials are considered to be the most sensitive and fast-response materials for photoelectric sensors. Many kinds of semiconductor NW materials have been developed as photoactive materials, such as metal oxides ZnO, [76] metal sulfides ZnS, [77] CdS, [78] and CdSe, [79] etc.…”

Amyloid-Like Aggregation in Diseases and Biomaterials: Osmosis of Structural Information

“…This protein can be also wet-spun or self-organized to form microfibers, solvent cast into mesoporous foams for local dermal applications, used as enhancer for optoelectronic chips and nanorods or used as component of films. A solvent-based process can be used to form silk-based biodegradable screws or plates or to produce artificial skin and nanodots (Kishimoto et al, 2013;Saravanan et al, 2018;Maniglio et al, 2018;Cazares Vargas et al, 2019;Guo et al, 2020;Zheng and Zuo, 2021).…”