8th Liquid Matter Conference September 6-10, 2011 Wien, Austria ...

P4.36Fri 911:10-14:00Hierarchically structured electronic conductingpolymerized ionic liquidsFirestone Millicent, 1 Brombosz Scott, 1 and Sungwon Lee 11 Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, 60439, Lemont, United Statesof AmericaProteins facilitate many key cellular processes, including signal recognition, ion transport, andenergy transduction. The ability to harness this evolutionarily-optimized functionality could leadto the development of protein-based systems useful for advancing alternative energy storage andconversion. The future of protein-based materials (and ultimately devices), however, requires thedevelopment of materials that will stabilize, order and control the activity of the proteins. Furthermore,the full realization of the potential of protein-based functional materials in the fabrication ofdevices requires architectures that ensure assembly of the proteins into high density, ordered arraysfor signal amplification and addressability, com ponents for interfacing with traditional materialsor device platforms, and a means to achieve adequate mechanical strength and chemical resistancewithout detriment to the biological com ponents. Toward this end, our research has emphasizedthe design, synthesis and characterization of hierarchical, self-assembled, soft nanostructured architecturesthat fulfill these criteria. In this talk our efforts to prepare polymerized ionic liquids(poly(ILs)) that incorporate com ponents that facilitate the interfacing and coupling of proteinoutput (light-generated electron flow) to traditional device architectures will be presented. Specifically,these polymers have been modified in two ways so as to promote electrical com municationbetween the encapsulated proteins and an external circuit. In the first approach, a hybrid materialorganizes Au nanoparticles in columns within a hexagonally perforated lamellar structuredpoly(IL) to serve as a conduction pathway or conduit. In the second approach, a thiophene moietyis incorporated into the ionic liquid monomer, yielding an electrically-conductive polymer.36