The Role of Metal Ions in the Electron Transport through Azurin-Based Junctions

Abstract

We studied the coherent electron transport through metal–protein–metal junctions based on a blue copper azurin, in which the copper ion was replaced by three different metal ions (Co, Ni and Zn). Our results show that neither the protein structure nor the transmission at the Fermi level change significantly upon metal replacement. The discrepancy with previous experimental observations suggests that the transport mechanism taking place in these types of junctions is probably not fully coherent.

Keywords

• azurin
• solid-state junction
• biomolecular electronics
• electronic transport
• density functional theory
• molecular dynamics