The DOI matches its Crossref record; 7 of the 7 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Role of semiconductivity and ion transport in the electrical conduction of melanin
Open accessAbstract
Melanins are pigmentary macromolecules found throughout the biosphere that, in the 1970s, were discovered to conduct electricity and display bistable switching. Since then, it has been widely believed that melanins are naturally occurring amorphous organic semiconductors. Here, we report electrical conductivity, muon spin relaxation, and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements of melanin as the environmental humidity is varied. We show that hydration of melanin shifts the comproportionation equilibrium so as to dope electrons and protons into the system. This equilibrium defines the relative proportions of hydroxyquinone, semiquinone, and quinone species in the macromolecule. As such, the mechanism explains why melanin at neutral pH only conducts when “wet” and suggests that both carriers play a role in the conductivity. Understanding that melanin is an electronic-ionic hybrid conductor rather than an amorphous organic semiconductor opens exciting possibilities for bioelectronic applications such as ion-to-electron transduction given its biocompatibility.
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Citations
Cites
Mussel-inspired surface chemistry for multifunctional coatings
Lee, H., Dellatore, S. M., Miller, W. M., & Messersmith, P. B. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1147241 · Cited by 10,965
A reversible wet/dry adhesive inspired by mussels and geckos
Lee, H., Lee, B. P., & Messersmith, P. B. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05968 · Cited by 2,043
Melanocyte biology and skin pigmentation
Lin, J. Y., & Fisher, D. E. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05660 · Cited by 1,379 · cited 1×
“Melanin phototoxicity is also implicated in deadly melanoma skin cancer (3, 4).”
BackgroundMelanoma biology and new targeted therapy
Gray-Schopfer, V., Wellbrock, C., & Marais, R. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05661 · Cited by 1,371
Dadachova, E., Bryan, R. A., Huang, X., Moadel, T., Schweitzer, A. D., Aisen, P., Nosanchuk, J. D., & Casadevall, A. (2007) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000457 · Cited by 463 · cited 1×
“More recently, other potentially useful properties of melanins and melanin-like materials have also been reported, such as multifunctional adhesives (9, 10), structural agents in the jaws of marine worms (11) and in cell walls of fungi (12) as well as protection against ionizing radiation (13).”
BackgroundThe supramolecular structure of melanin
Watt, A. A. R., Bothma, J. P., & Meredith, P. (2009) · Soft Matter · doi:10.1039/b902507c · Cited by 308
Self-citationPhotoacoustic studies of non-radiative relaxation of excited states in melanin
Crippa, P. R., & Viappiani, C. (1990) · European Biophysics Journal · doi:10.1007/bf00258378 · Cited by 27
Cited by
Liu, Y., Ai, K., & Lu, L. (2014) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr400407a · Cited by 4,794
Structural control of mixed ionic and electronic transport in conducting polymers
Rivnay, J., Inal, S., Collins, B. A., Sessolo, M., Stavrinidou, E., Strakosas, X., Tassone, C., Delongchamp, D. M., & Malliaras, G. G. (2016) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms11287 · Cited by 939
Polydopamine and Eumelanin: From Structure–Property Relationships to a Unified Tailoring Strategy
d’Ischia, M., Napolitano, A., Ball, V., Chen, C.-T., & Buehler, M. J. (2014) · Accounts of Chemical Research · doi:10.1021/ar500273y · Cited by 668
Interactions of iron, dopamine and neuromelanin pathways in brain aging and Parkinson's disease
Zucca, F. A., Segura-Aguilar, J., Ferrari, E., Muñoz, P., Paris, I., Sulzer, D., Sarna, T., Casella, L., & Zecca, L. (2017) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2015.09.012 · Cited by 659
Self-citationMelanins and melanogenesis: Methods, standards, protocols
d'Ischia, M., Wakamatsu, K., Napolitano, A., Briganti, S., Garcia‐Borron, J., Kovacs, D., Meredith, P., Pezzella, A., Picardo, M., Sarna, T., et al. (2013) · Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research · doi:10.1111/pcmr.12121 · Cited by 484
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Metadata
- Authors
- Mostert, A. B., Powell, B. J., Pratt, F. L., Hanson, G. R., Sarna, T., Gentle, I. R., & Meredith, P.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2012-05-21
- Volume
- 109
- Issue
- 23
- Pages
- 8943-8947
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- OpenAlex
- W2035631163
- Cited by
- 379
- References
- 7
- FWCI
- 16.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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- Mostert, A. B., Powell, B. J., Pratt, F. L., Hanson, G. R., Sarna, T., Gentle, I. R., & Meredith, P. (2012). Role of semiconductivity and ion transport in the electrical conduction of melanin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1119948109
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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