Highly conductive protein fibers as a radically new technological material.

A prominent societal challenge is to ensure that electronic technology becomes more sustainable, and hence, material scientists are looking for radical alternatives to the electronic materials currently in use. Recent discoveries show that bacteria can produce "conductive silk", i.e., protein nanofibers with a high conductivity rivaling that of the most performant semi-conductor materials. This brings a long-time dream of material scientists within reach: to combine the unique traits of proteins fibers (flexible, lightweight, biocompatible, biodegradable, self-assembling) with high electronic functionality. The principal technological challenge is to produce these protein fibers in a controlled and scalable way. The goal of this FWO-SBO project is to mimic the self-assembly of these protein nanofibers under controlled in vitro conditions, allowing scalable recombinant production of conductive protein fibers in "microbial factories". To this end, we will develop pathways for synthetic self-assemblage of microbial conductive proteins as well as procedures for tuning the electronic properties of these synthetic protein fibers. As a proof of concept, we will integrate our custom-crafted synthetic conductive protein fibers into a simplified biodegradable electronic device. Our long-term technological vision is to achieve a radically new class of electronic materials that are bio-based. These so-called "proteonic fiber materials" will allow far more sustainable production and recycling pathways, thus creating major breakthroughs towards a circular and carbon-neutral economy (e.g. by reducing e-waste). Proteonic fiber materials have the potential to revolutionize applications in health care (electronic skin patches, metal-free implants), textile (smart clothing), packaging industry (biodegradable RFID tags), and environmental protection (dissolving bio-sensors).

Keywords:BIO-ELECTRONICS, NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY, ELECTRONIC WASTE, PROTEIN ENGINEERING

Disciplines:Proteins, Synthetic biology, Molecular and organic electronics, Nanobiotechnology, Environmental microorganism biotechnology

Project type:Collaboration project