Electroactive Proteinoid–Quantum Dot Systems
Panagiotis Mougkogiannis, Andrew Adamatzky
Abstract
Proteinoid–quantum dot (QD) conjugates are a new class of bioquantum hybrid materials combining biological self‐assembly with semiconductor nanocrystal electronic properties. This study describes the synthesis and analysis of proteinoid–QD networks using sulfosuccinimidyl 4‐(N‐maleimidomethyl)cyclohexane‐1‐carboxylate (sulfo‐SMCC) cross‐linking chemistry, achieving 80–90% conjugation efficiency. Scanning electron microscopy reveals a morphological transformation from spherical precursors to toroidal nanostructures with outer diameters of and central cavities of . The hybrid networks exhibit spontaneous electrochemical oscillations ( to , ‐) reproducible across trials. QD incorporation enhances signal amplitude 41‐fold ( vs. ) via surface plasmon coupling. Optimal charge transfer resistance for biosensing is ≈. Electron transfer kinetics follow first‐order decay (). The networks respond to structured binary input over 5 days, displaying frequency synchronization at . Magnitude‐squared coherence values are for pure proteinoids and for conjugates. The system exhibits adaptive response‐like behavior through structural transformations, enabling applications in neuromorphic computing, adaptive biosensors, and information processing architectures.