Protein display

An Israeli research team has manufactured new organic semiconductors materials using proteins linked together in chains.

The new semiconductors, called electronic peptides, could lead to lighter, cheaper and more flexible electronic devices within the next two years, the researchers say.

The electronic peptides created by Professor Nir Tessler and colleagues at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology could be used in full colour, foldable LED displays with a sharper resolution than today’s computer screens, and large, flexible solar cells that spread flat and roll up like a blanket. The peptides could also be used in sensor devices that detect tiny amounts of disease molecules in the body or toxins in the environment.

To build the electronic peptides, the Technion researchers began by imitating nature. In human cells and the rest of the biological world, peptides are created by linking together amino acids, the basic building blocks of proteins. In the lab, Tessler and others used an automatic peptide synthesizer to link together artificial combinations of amino acids and create new peptides with semiconductor properties.