Assembly and charge transfer in hybrid TiO(2) architectures using biotin-avidin as a connector.

Exploiting the presence of undercoordinated surface Ti atoms at the tips of TiO2 nanorods and the dopamine selectivity for these Ti surface states, biotin was conjugated to TiO2 nanocrystallites using dopamine as a bridging linker. Using abiotin-avidin complex as a connector the "tip-to-tip" assembly of 400 nm elongated TiO2 rods was obtained. The photoexcitation of avidin-TiO2 hybrids resulted in the transfer of holes from nanocrystallites to protein and consequent oxidation of avidin, most probably at tyrosine 33.