Sensor surface via inspiration from Nature: The specific case of electron trapping in TiO2/WO3(∙0.33H2O) and reaction center/WO3(∙0.33H2O) systems

In this work, reaction center protein (RC) isolated from Rhodobacter sphaeroides purple bacteria was coupled with WO3(∙0.33H2O) via physical adsorption, where vectorial electron transfer (from RCs towards the inorganic carrier) demonstrated using flash kinetics and photoluminescence measurements. The efficiency of interaction between correlated to components’ surface charge at working pH structural/morphological properties carrier (e.g., anchoring capacity assured by HO, WO bonds). role as final trap separator proven not only in RCs/WO3(∙0.33H2O) biohybrid systems but also TiO2/WO3(∙0.33H2O) composites. composites evaluated monitoring reverse process color (W5+ → W6+) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) after a previous UV-A (320–400 nm) exposure. initial W5+ content WO3(∙0.33H2O), followed photocatalytic evaluation these under irradiation.