Supramolecular nanostructures based on bacterial reaction center proteins and quantum dots

•We analyze the significance of membrane protein and lipid Langmuir films.•The interaction between photosensitive proteins and nanoparticles is shown.•The photovoltaic of the photosensitive proteins was improved by quantum dots.•The development of nanomaterials with advanced properties•The approaches to developing protein-quantum dot nanostructures are suggested.

Design of the nanostructures based on membrane proteins (the key functional elements of biomembranes) and colloid nanoparticles is a fascinating field at the interface of biochemistry and colloids, nanotechnology and biomedicine. The review discusses the main achievements in the field of ultrathin films prepared from bacterial reaction center proteins and light-harvesting complexes, as well as these complexes tagged with quantum dots. The principles of preparation of these thin films and their structure and properties at different interfaces are described; as well as their characteristics estimated using a combination of the modern interfacial techniques (absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, atomic force and Brewster angle microscopy, etc.) are discussed. Further approaches to develop the nanostructures based on the membrane proteins and quantum dots are suggested. These supramolecular nanostructures are promising prototypes of the materials for photovoltaic, optoelectronic and biosensing applications.

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