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Science 25 June 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5679, pp. 1944 - 1947
DOI: 10.1126/science.1098489
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Reports

A Molecular Photodiode System That Can Switch Photocurrent Direction

Shiro Yasutomi, Tomoyuki Morita, Yukio Imanishi, Shunsaku Kimura*

We prepared a molecular photodiode system in which the photocurrent direction can be switched by choosing the wavelength of an irradiating light. The molecular system is composed of two types of helical peptides that carry different chromophores and have different directions of dipole moments when they are immobilized on gold. The mixed, self-assembled monolayer generated an anodic photocurrent when one of the two chromophores was photoexcited, whereas the photocurrent switched to being cathodic when the other chromophore was photoexcited. The opposite current response arises from the dipole moment of each helical peptide, which accelerates electron transfer in the same direction.

Department of Material Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto-Daigaku-Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: shun{at}scl.kyoto-u.ac.jp

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Nuclear Coupling and Polarization in Molecular Transport Junctions: Beyond Tunneling to Function.
M. Galperin, M. A. Ratner, A. Nitzan, and A. Troisi (2008)
Science 319, 1056-1060
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