Electroactive Proteinoid-Quantum Dot Systems.

Proteinoid-quantum dot (QD) conjugates are a new class of bioquantum hybrid materials combining biological self-assembly with semiconductor nanocrystal electronic properties. This study describes the synthesis and analysis of Glu - Phe - Asp - Cys proteinoid-QD networks using sulfosuccinimidyl 4-(N-maleimidomethyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylate (sulfo-SMCC) cross-linking chemistry, achieving 80-90% conjugation efficiency. Scanning electron microscopy reveals a morphological transformation from spherical precursors to toroidal nanostructures with outer diameters of 145.2 ± 18.7   nm and central cavities of 102.3 ± 15.2   nm . The hybrid networks exhibit spontaneous electrochemical oscillations ( 0.03 to 0.11   Hz , 297 - 485     mV ) reproducible across trials. QD incorporation enhances signal amplitude 41-fold ( 1999     mV vs. 48.8     mV ) via surface plasmon coupling. Optimal charge transfer resistance for biosensing is ≈ 5250     Ω . Electron transfer kinetics follow first-order decay ( α = 0.0032     Hz - 1 ). The networks respond to structured binary input over 5 days, displaying frequency synchronization at f = 0.022217     Hz . Magnitude-squared coherence values are 0.90 for pure proteinoids and 0.85 for conjugates. The system exhibits adaptive response-like behavior through structural transformations, enabling applications in neuromorphic computing, adaptive biosensors, and information processing architectures.