IISER, IIT researchers develop new artificial photosynthetic system to capture solar energy

Scientists across the globe are trying to replicate the light-harvesting step of photosynthesis in engineered systems for use in solar cells.

Researchers from IISER-Thiruvananthapuram and IIT-Indore have developed a new artificial light-harvesting system that can efficiently capture light for power conversion by mimicking photosynthesis, the process by which plants absorb sunlight and produce sugars.

The research has been published in the prestigious 'Royal Chemical Society – Chemical Science' journal.

According to officials, scientists across the globe are trying to replicate the light-harvesting step of photosynthesis in engineered systems for use in solar cells or artificial leaves.

Biswarup Pathak, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Indore, said, "The light-harvesting cores in plants and other photosynthetic bacteria are chromophores, molecules that absorb visible light and pass it on to other components that use the energy for various chemical reactions. The top-most chromophores that are exposed to the sun absorb the energy.

"The chromophores are arranged in arrays and an energised chromophore passes the energy to the adjoining chromophore and so on. There is a rapid cascade of energy until the energy reaches its destination."

There have been many attempts at replicating the molecular and atomic structure of the light-harvesting mechanism in the lab. Polymeric structures, detergent-type molecules, vesicles, gels, and other bio-inspired structures have been used to mimic photosynthesis, Pathak explained.

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