Photoinduced electron transfer from phycoerythrin to colloidal metal semiconductor nanoparticles

Phycoerythrin is a water soluble pigment which absorbs in the visible region at 563 nm. The interaction of phycoerythrin with colloidal metal semiconductors was studied by absorption, FT-IR and fluorescence spectroscopy. Phycoerythrin adsorbed strongly on the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles, the apparent association constant for the association between colloidal metal-TiO2 nanoparticles and phycoerythrin was determined from fluorescence quenching data. The free energy change (ΔGet) for electron transfer process has been calculated by applying Rehm-Weller equation.