Chiroptical Effect in Charge Transfer Processes in Chiral Carbon Dot-Doped Biopolymers: Application Toward Developing Chiral Electrodes

The unique chiral properties exhibited by nanoscale materials and their preferable interactions with the helicity of free-standing protein-based biopolymers offer a novel platform for developing spintronic applications. We investigated the chiroptical effect in charge transfer processes in a chiral carbon dot (C-Dot)-doped biopolymer, specifically a free-standing protein-based film composed of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Here, we reveal a chiroptical effect in the charge transfer process, indicating spin selectivity of the charge carriers by measuring the circular dichroism spectra and by conducting an electrical study of the chiral C-dot-doped BSA film. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate chiral-selected electron transfer through a free-standing chiral C-Dot-doped protein-based film. Our results provide new insights into the chiral properties of materials and suggest potential applications in the development of chiral-sensitized bioelectronic devices, including the fabrication of chiral electrodes. These advancements in biopolymer-based chiral electronics could have important implications in biosensing, drug delivery, and other biomedical applications.