Fig. 1: S. elongatus/PEDOT-S biocomposites form a 3D conductive matrix for efficient electron extraction.
a Schematic of the S. elongatus/PEDOT-S biocomposite, depicting a conductive matrix (PEDOT-S, in blue color) encapsulating cyanobacterium S. elongatus (in green color). The PEDOT-S forms a 3D conductive network, allowing for efficient electron transport throughout the system. The zoomed-in schematic highlights the formation of a polymer network via interchain interactions. b Molecular structure of PEDOT-S, with the p-doped conjugated backbone (colored in blue) and the negatively charged chains (colored in orange). The PEDOT-S gel is expected to form through interchain connections via hydrophobic effects and ionic interactions between the negatively charged sulfonate groups and positively charged counter ions. c Cartoon schematic representation of the electron transport pathway in the S. elongatus/PEDOT-S biocomposites. Electrons are generated by the photosynthetic activity of S. elongatus and are transferred to a redox mediator (K3[Fe(CN)6], yellow spheres), which facilitates electron shuttling between the biological system and the PEDOT-S matrix. The PEDOT-S polymer then serves as the conductive medium that transports these electrons to an external electrode. The cartoon schematic represents some key components within the cyanobacterium: carboxysomes (orange hexagons), chromosomes (grey tangled lines), phycobilisomes (grey spheres), and thylakoids (light green concentric curves).
