Monday, 14 May 2018
Ballroom 6ABC (Washington State Convention Center)
A cell membrane has a thickness of several nanometer and function as an insulating film having a resistance of more than 100 GΩ in a biological body. The cell membrane has a structure in which phospholipid molecules are aligned as a bilayer. Researches have been conducted to artificially construct cell membranes in vivo and to apply them as highly sensitive biosensors and drug screening devices by embedding biological membrane proteins in cell membranes. On the other hand, photovoltaic properties of lipid bilayer membranes have been reported by introducing fullerene (C60) in the lipid bilayer membrane. Although this technique suggests the function of the cell membrane as a photosensor, the mechanism has not been discussed yet. If we modulated the trans-electrical-conduction with external energies of electric filed or light irradiation, we could expect to control of carrier and/or ion incorporation at the cell membrane, that would be used a biosensing and bio-ion-incorporation devices. In this work, we investigated that modulation of transmembrane electric conductivity in Phenyl-C61-Butyric-Acid-Methyl Ester (PC60BM) doped free-standing lipid bilayers by the visible light irradiation.