Self-Assembled Peptide Hydrogel With Porphyrin as a Dopant for Enhanced Photocurrent Generation

Light-harvesting hybrid hydrogel was fabricated based on self-assembly of an aromatic peptide with porphyrin as a dopant for an effective solar-electronic energy conversion. The long-range order assembly of aromatic peptide can act as photoelectron acceptor and conductor to promote the production of photoelectrons by the light antenna porphyrin molecules. In the meanwhile, the doping of porphyrin can effectively reduce the resistance of peptide-based hydrogel, facilitating the transfer of photoelectrons. Photocurrent test result demonstrates the great light response property of the porphyrin/peptide hydrogel with a photoelectron yield as high as 672 nA cm−2, which holds great potential for enhanced solar energy conversion.