Chiroptical Effect in Charge Transfer Processes in Chiral Carbon Dot-Doped Biopolymers: Application Toward Developing Chiral Electrodes
Subham Burai, Sapna Waghmare, Arunavo Chatterjee, Pradipta Purkayastha, Somen Mondal
Abstract
The unique chiral properties exhibited by nanoscale materials and their preferable interactions with the helicity of free-standing protein-based biopolymers offer a novel platform for developing spintronic applications. We investigated the chiroptical effect in charge transfer processes in a chiral carbon dot (C-Dot)-doped biopolymer, specifically a free-standing protein-based film composed of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Here, we reveal a chiroptical effect in the charge transfer process, indicating spin selectivity of the charge carriers by measuring the circular dichroism spectra and by conducting an electrical study of the chiral C-dot-doped BSA film. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate chiral-selected electron transfer through a free-standing chiral C-Dot-doped protein-based film. Our results provide new insights into the chiral properties of materials and suggest potential applications in the development of chiral-sensitized bioelectronic devices, including the fabrication of chiral electrodes. These advancements in biopolymer-based chiral electronics could have important implications in biosensing, drug delivery, and other biomedical applications.