Co-sponsored by The Nanostructures Lab, The Tiny Tech Club and Techlink. 

The Science of Biomolecular Electronics

Professor Marc Baldo

Associate Professor - Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Faculty Member of  The Laboratory of Organic Optics and Electronics

Background Papers for Talk:

TBA

Molecular materials have been widely studied as potential alternatives to inorganic semiconductors for future generations of electronic devices. But at typical molecular length scales of 1 - 5 nm it appears unlikely that conventional electronic devices such as field effect transistors will be effective in any material system. What then is the benefit of molecular electronics?

We examine molecular circuits that operate in natural systems, with particular emphasis on photosynthetic materials and structures. Millions of years of evolutionary adaptation have optimized the efficiency of the molecular circuits within biological photosynthetic protein-molecular complexes. Depending on the size of these complexes, absorbed photons are dissociated into charges within 1 - 100ps, with an overall quantum yield of approximately 100%. These complexes have application as photovoltaics and low-light-level or high-speed photodetectors. Using genetic engineering, we demonstrate guided self assembly of protein-molecular complexes onto a substrate from purple bacteria and higher plants. Photocurrent is observed from the photosynthetic complexes in solid-state electronic devices.

Marc Baldo (Ph.D. 2001, Princeton) Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,  received his B. Eng. (Electrical Engineering) from the University of Sydney in 1995 with first class honors and university medal, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton in 1998 and 2001, respectively. In 2002 he joined MIT as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering.

Professor Baldo's research interests include electrical and exciton transport in organic materials, energy transfer, metal-organic contacts, heterogeneous integration of biological materials, and novel organic transistors.

©2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology