1. Mesoscale Ordering of Phycocyanin Molecules in Langmuir-Blodgett Multilayers
- Author
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Eugenia Pechkova, Claudio Nicolini, Stefano Fiordoro, and Christian Riekel
- Subjects
Microscopy ,Electrochemistry ,Phycocyanin ,Quartz Crystal Microbalance Techniques ,Atomic Force ,Reproducibility of Results ,General Materials Science ,Surfaces and Interfaces ,Microscopy, Atomic Force ,Phase Transition ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Spectroscopy - Abstract
Phycocyanin molecules, which are part of light-harvesting complexes in cyanobacteria, can be assembled into mesoscale multilayer nanofilms by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Results obtained by quartz crystal microbalance and atomic force microscopy confirm the homogeneity and reproducibility of phycocyanin Langmuir-Blodgett multilayer deposition. We show by cryo-electron microdiffraction that amorphous phycocyanin Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers form, after annealing at 150 °C and cooling to room temperature, a layered nanofibrillar lattice with rotational disorder. Scanning X-ray nanodiffraction suggests that structural transformation is not homogeneous through the film but limited to patches of up to about 10 μm diameter.
- Published
- 2021