Ultrahigh-mobility microbial cytochrome nanowires generate power from humidity

Ultrahigh-mobility microbial cytochrome nanowires generate power from humidity | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Ultrahigh-mobility microbial cytochrome nanowires generate power from humidity Peter Dahl, Jens Neu, Yangqi Gu, Catharine Shipps, Victor Batista, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4724466/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Mixed electronic-ionic conductors are crucial for various technologies, including harvesting power from humidity in a durable, self-sustainable, manner unrestricted by location or environment 1,2 . Biological proteins have been proposed as mixed conductors for 50 years 3,4 . Recently, Geobacter sulfurreducens pili filaments have been claimed to act as nanowires to generate power 5,6 . Here, we show that the power is generated by G. sulfurreducens -produced cytochrome OmcZ nanowires that show 20,000-fold higher electron conductivity than pili 7 . Remarkably, nanowires show ultrahigh electron and proton mobility (>0.25 cm2/Vs), owing to directional charge migration through seamlessly-stacked hemes and a charged, hydrogen-bonding surface, respectively. AC impedance spectroscopy and DC conductivity measurements using four-probe van der Pauw and back-gated field-effect-transistor devices reveal that humidity increases carrier mobility by 30,000-fold. Cooling halves the activation energy, thereby accelerating charge transport. Electrochemical measurements identify the voltage and mobilities required to switch pure electronic conduction to mixed conduction for power generation. The high aspect ratio (1:1000) and hydrophilic nanowire surface captures moisture efficiently to reduce oxygen reversibly, generating large potentials (>0.5 V) necessary to sustain high power. Our studies establish a new class of biologically-synthesized, low-cost and high-performance mixed-conductors and identify key design principles for improving power output using highly-tunable electronic and protein structures. Biological sciences/Biotechnology/Biomaterials/Biomaterials – proteins Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Energy harvesting/Devices for energy harvesting Physical sciences/Chemistry/Physical chemistry/Electron transfer Physical sciences/Chemistry/Electrochemistry/Electrocatalysis Biological sciences/Biophysics/Bioenergetics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4724466","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":332244497,"identity":"2b25d17e-62cd-4051-a7ae-539c1aa60c88","order_by":0,"name":"Peter Dahl","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yale University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Peter","middleName":"","lastName":"Dahl","suffix":""},{"id":340332007,"identity":"e58c5e6f-1c36-4ed1-8201-01bb21d4132f","order_by":1,"name":"Jens Neu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yale University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jens","middleName":"","lastName":"Neu","suffix":""},{"id":332244498,"identity":"be4c261b-379d-4534-96f8-1ea0f6bce0d3","order_by":2,"name":"Yangqi Gu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8206-8804","institution":"Yale University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yangqi","middleName":"","lastName":"Gu","suffix":""},{"id":332244499,"identity":"418dc8d3-a4cb-4736-93d6-c4ebf2ba50f5","order_by":3,"name":"Catharine Shipps","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yale University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Catharine","middleName":"","lastName":"Shipps","suffix":""},{"id":332244500,"identity":"ebdecb0d-3c66-4451-b0b9-6125bd408803","order_by":4,"name":"Victor Batista","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3262-1237","institution":"Yale University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Victor","middleName":"","lastName":"Batista","suffix":""},{"id":332244496,"identity":"7e4b2b3d-195d-4600-b4ae-33ac0eaa5b53","order_by":5,"name":"Nikhil Malvankar","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABEUlEQVRIie3RMUvDQBTA8VcCl+UgjldCv8OTQKVY+kVcIoF0MZix4NBIQBdxjot+hXZxTnmQLAHXA5d8AIeAS0FBL22HDubqKHj/5d4Nv+O4AzCZ/mIWY+DHarDbXQ7gAPTUAr1ES7AddqSfbBYNAUVgn2B+gJzYLKxrhDMn5cfvcTW59GRQ5w2MB4v8ZzJKWYnqYlFG3HMzGYyeZYirDEKviyDZN6IlCTHf5Y2FQ+kjcaDzg+SJWPDBmzl62bShT/jSEFZsyIKswuWSEMUFknoBHQkVEdFSkVNelSiqt3h1h4H30EVeimF/PRtHj+V1+sqLK3Rup8t6PZsM7jvILrE3H/mw/anf5+hPN5lMpv/XNxm1Yd0gFQ9AAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5611-6633","institution":"Yale University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nikhil","middleName":"","lastName":"Malvankar","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-11 13:32:01","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4724466/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4724466/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":62475050,"identity":"384679f8-8b18-4fcd-93e0-fe6d8fd7bc1f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-14 15:14:22","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3430947,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"2.MalvankarManuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4724466/v1_covered_1f690251-5933-4611-989d-a8067ab24216.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Ultrahigh-mobility microbial cytochrome nanowires generate power from humidity","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4724466/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4724466/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Mixed electronic-ionic conductors are crucial for various technologies, including harvesting power from humidity in a durable, self-sustainable, manner unrestricted by location or environment\u003csup\u003e1,2\u003c/sup\u003e. Biological proteins have been proposed as mixed conductors for 50 years\u003csup\u003e3,4\u003c/sup\u003e. Recently, \u003ci\u003eGeobacter sulfurreducens\u003c/i\u003e pili filaments have been claimed to act as nanowires to generate power\u003csup\u003e5,6\u003c/sup\u003e. Here, we show that the power is generated by \u003ci\u003eG. sulfurreducens\u003c/i\u003e-produced cytochrome OmcZ nanowires that show 20,000-fold higher electron conductivity than pili\u003csup\u003e7\u003c/sup\u003e. Remarkably, nanowires show ultrahigh electron and proton mobility (\u003e0.25 cm2/Vs), owing to directional charge migration through seamlessly-stacked hemes and a charged, hydrogen-bonding surface, respectively. AC impedance spectroscopy and DC conductivity measurements using four-probe van der Pauw and back-gated field-effect-transistor devices reveal that humidity increases carrier mobility by 30,000-fold. Cooling halves the activation energy, thereby accelerating charge transport. Electrochemical measurements identify the voltage and mobilities required to switch pure electronic conduction to mixed conduction for power generation. The high aspect ratio (1:1000) and hydrophilic nanowire surface captures moisture efficiently to reduce oxygen reversibly, generating large potentials (\u003e0.5 V) necessary to sustain high power. Our studies establish a new class of biologically-synthesized, low-cost and high-performance mixed-conductors and identify key design principles for improving power output using highly-tunable electronic and protein structures.","manuscriptTitle":"Ultrahigh-mobility microbial cytochrome nanowires generate power from humidity","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-08-12 00:48:21","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4724466/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"25ff733e-e55a-42ea-ad66-054014f91453","owner":[],"postedDate":"August 12th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":35180733,"name":"Biological sciences/Biotechnology/Biomaterials/Biomaterials \u0026#x2013; proteins"},{"id":35180734,"name":"Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Energy harvesting/Devices for energy harvesting"},{"id":35180735,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry/Physical chemistry/Electron transfer"},{"id":35180736,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry/Electrochemistry/Electrocatalysis"},{"id":35180737,"name":"Biological sciences/Biophysics/Bioenergetics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-10-23T22:00:12+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-08-12 00:48:21","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4724466","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4724466","identity":"rs-4724466","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}