Researchers develop firefly-inspired glowing nanorods

The team at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences believes the system holds promise for future technologies that will convert chemical energy directly to light.

‘The light is extremely bright and efficient,’ said project lead Prof Mathew Maye. ‘We’ve found a new way to harness biology for non-biological applications by manipulating the interface between the biological and non-biological components.’

Fireflies produce light through a chemical reaction between luciferin and its counterpart, the enzyme luciferase. In Maye’s laboratory, the enzyme is attached to the nanorod’s surface; luciferin, which is added later, serves as the fuel. The energy that is released when the fuel and the enzyme interact is transferred to the nanorods, causing them to glow.

‘The trick to increasing the efficiency of the system is to decrease the distance between the enzyme and the surface of the rod and to optimise the rod’s architecture,’ Maye said. ‘We designed a way to chemically attach genetically manipulated luciferase enzymes directly to the surface of the nanorod.’