Solar energy conversion by photosystem II

Solar energy conversion

energy—enough to power the great oceanic and atmospheric currents, the cycle of evaporation and condensation that brings fresh water inland and drives river flow, and the typhoons, hurricanes, and tornadoes that so easily destroy the natural and built landscape. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906, with magnitude 7.8, released an estimated 1017 joules of energy, the amount the Sun delivers to ...

Electrochemical preparation of Photosystem I-polyaniline composite films for biohybrid solar energy conversion.

In this work, we report for the first time the entrapment of the biomolecular supercomplex Photosystem I (PSI) within a conductive polymer network of polyaniline via electrochemical copolymerization. Composite polymer-protein films were prepared on gold electrodes through potentiostatic electropolymerization from a single aqueous solution containing both aniline and PSI. This study demonstrates...

Photosystem I protein films at electrode surfaces for solar energy conversion.

Over the course of a few billion years, nature has developed extraordinary nanomaterials for the efficient conversion of solar energy into chemical energy. One of these materials, photosystem I (PSI), functions as a photodiode capable of generating a charge separation with nearly perfect quantum efficiency. Because of the favorable properties and natural abundance of PSI, researchers around the...

Photochemical Conversion of Solar Energy

Efficient Photoelectrochemical Energy Conversion using Spinach Photosystem II (PSII) in Lipid Multilayer Films

The need for clean, renewable energy has fostered research into photovoltaic alternatives to silicon solar cells. Pigment-protein complexes in green plants convert light energy into chemical potential using redox processes that produce molecular oxygen. Here, we report the first use of spinach protein photosystem II (PSII) core complex in lipid films in photoelectrochemical devices. Photocurren...