14 DAY TRIAL // Thanks to a new investigation conducted by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it may now become possible to design more advanced synthetic light-harvesting systems.
For many year, researchers have been working hard on replicating the process of photosynthesis, through which plants turn sunlight into energy. Doing so could result in efficient artificial systems capable of producing large amounts of electricity.
However, the goal has proven to be elusive, and existing conversion systems have only limited efficiency. The MIT team now proposes a new approach, that could boost conversion efficiency.
The group here has been investigating the various factors that dictate the high level of performance the process of photosynthesis has for many years. The efforts are led by MIT associate professor of chemistry Jianshu Cao.
This new investigation was carried out on artificial photosynthetic systems that were developed earlier this year by researchers at the University of California in Berkeley (UCB).
In the study, the team discovered that there numerous shapes specialized structures inside cells called chromophores can take when processing sunlight.
Some of these formations bundle in a bedspring-like, helical structure, whereas others form piles of disks. The latter arrangement was discovered to be very easy to fine-tune for optimal efficiency.
The chromophores are the basic reaction centers inside cells that make photosynthesis. There are three types of the structure – acceptors, donors and bridges – and all of them are critical to the process.
Investigators determine that the most efficient transfer of energy occurs when a certain ratio of acceptors to donors appears inside a cell. These results appear in the latest issue of the esteemed Journal of Physical Chemistry.
“Now that we can take advantage of this and copy some of the underlying design principles [in nature, this] opens up many new opportunities for us to take advantage of the three-and-a-half billion years of R&D that nature has done,” says Greg Engel.
“There is still a great deal of work to be done. This is not the answer, this is the beginning of the road map, the first signpost along the way,” adds the expert, who holds an appointment as an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago. He was not a part of the study.
Experts say that investigations such as this one are precisely what scientists need to construct a viable framework of knowledge, on which other researches can be based, to push this field of research even further.
The end goal is to develop high-efficiency electronics, that would replace today's photovoltaic cells.