Researchers believe that understanding how electrons move within small, natural systems could power a more sustainable future for our energy grid.
That is, in part, why researchers from the Michigan State University-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory, or PRL, are looking at how electrons move within protein nanocrystals. In doing so, they've discovered that previous theories on the subject might not apply in every case. Their latest work to reconcile theory and reality has now led to a recent publication in the Journal of Chemical Physics.
In 2020, researchers in Dave Kramer's lab at the PRL observed electron flow in by pointing a light source at a crystal made of proteins that contained many molecules called hemes. Heme molecules have an array of important biological processes they perform, like carrying oxygen and electrons.
The researchers found that the rate at which the electrons jump from one heme to another highly depended on the temperature of the crystal. This temperature effect is very important because it can indicate how the electrons make their jumps. Do they have to go over a big barrier like a pole vaulter, or do they make more shallow jumps like a long jumper? According to previous theory—which did use some simplifying assumptions—it should not have been temperature dependent.
"We got a result that is far away from the simplified theories," said Jingcheng Huang, an author for the study and postdoctoral researcher in the Kramer lab.
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