Electronic control of H+ current in a bioprotonic device with carbon nanotube porins

PLoS One. 2019 Feb 22;14(2):e0212197. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212197. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Hybrid biotic abiotic devices can be used to interface electronics with biological systems for novel therapies or to increase device functionality beyond silicon. Many strategies exist to merge the electronic and biological worlds, one dominated by electrons and holes as charge carriers, the other by ions. In the biological world, lipid bilayers and ion channels are essential to compartmentalize the cell machinery and regulate ionic fluxes across the cell membrane. Here, we demonstrate a bioelectronic device in which a lipid bilayer supported on H+-conducting Pd/PdHx contacts contains carbon nanotubes porin (CNTP) channels. This bioelectronic device uses CNTPs to control of H+ flow across the lipid bilayer with a voltage applied to the Pd/PdHx contacts. Potential applications of these devices include local pH sensing and control.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Electronics
  • Electrons*
  • Lipid Bilayers / chemistry*
  • Nanotubes / chemistry*
  • Porins / chemistry*
  • Protons*

Substances

  • Lipid Bilayers
  • Porins
  • Protons

Grants and funding

The device work was funded by the National Science Foundation DMR-1648815 and by the Air Force Office of Sponsored Research under award # FA9550-15-1-0273 part of the CyrborgCell program directed by Dr. Patrick Bradshaw to ZH. CNTP synthesis and characterization was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under award SCW0972. Work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.