Fig. 2: High photoconductivity in purified protein nanowires.

a Heme staining gel of nanowires showing a single band of OmcS. b UV-Vis spectrum of oxidized (green) and reduced (red) nanowires. c Photocurrent response of nanowire network at 200 mV with the current decay of the off-state subtracted. Inset: Fast (<100 ms) photoresponse of nanowires. Axes are same as in Fig. 2c. d Current-voltage response of nanowire network and cytochrome c for comparison e Comparison of conductance of nanowire network with laser on or off. Values represent mean ± standard error of the mean (S.E.M) with individual data points shown as grey dots (n = 7 independent experiments). ** indicates p value = 0.003 using a paired two tail t-test. f Schematic of pc-AFM of individual nanowires. g Current-voltage response of an individual nanowire with a linear fit shown by a purple dashed line. h Comparison of conductance increase upon photoexcitation in individual nanowires. Values represent mean of all current-voltage curves measured on individual nanowires (number of curves ranges from 10 to 120 Supplemental Table 2). i Comparison of average conductance of individual nanowires with laser on or off. Values represent mean ± S.E.M. with individual data points shown as grey dots (n = 15 independent experiments). ** indicates p value = 0.007 using a paired two tail t-test. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.