Approaches for biological and biomimetic energy conversion

Abstract

This article highlights areas of research at the interface of nanotechnology, the physical sciences, and biology that are related to energy conversion: specifically, those related to photovoltaic applications. Although much ongoing work is seeking to understand basic processes of photosynthesis and chemical conversion, such as light harvesting, electron transfer, and ion transport, application of this knowledge to the development of fully synthetic and͞or hybrid devices is still in its infancy. To develop systems that produce energy in an efficient manner, it is important both to understand the biological mechanisms of energy flow for optimization of primary structure and to appreciate the roles of architecture and assembly. Whether devices are completely synthetic and mimic biological processes or devices use natural biomolecules, much of the research for future power systems will happen at the intersection of disciplines.biotechnology ͉ nanotechnology ͉ photosynthesis ͉ photovoltaic R ecently, the National Academies and the Keck Foundation held a meeting to discuss the development of new applications for nanotechnology ¶ with the goal of identifying challenges where the convergence of nanoscience and physical and biosciences could provide a revolutionary outcome. One area clearly in need of new technologies is biological and biomimetic methods of energy conversion. Within this broad area, focus was given to two specific applications: the conversion of solar energy into useful electrical or chemical energy and the production of power for in vivo medical devices. The following sections will provide both an economic perspective on current photovoltaic (PV) technology and an overview of the various research efforts toward using or mimicking biological systems to improve current and future energy-conversion systems.

Superhydrophobic Carbon Nanotube Electrode Produces a Near‐Symmetrical Alternating Current from Photosynthetic Protein‐Based Photoelectrochemical Cells

“…[1][2][3] Photochemical charge separation occurs in these systems with a quantum yield (event per photon absorbed) close to unity, and there is growing interest in how reaction center proteins can be directly exploited for device applications in photovoltaics, biosensing, photodetection, fuel synthesis and biocomputing. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Key to the development of these new hybrid technologies is the effective interfacing of proteinaceous reaction centers with manmade materials.…”

Modeling light-driven proton pumps in artificial photosynthetic reaction centers

“…The study of natural photosynthesis has inspired researchers to perform the photo-induced energy transduction processes in the laboratory [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12]. A convenient approach to photosynthesis in artificial reaction centers is to use synthetic pigments, electron acceptors and electron donors that are very similar in molecular structure to natural pigments (e.g., chlorophylls, carotenoids and quinones).…”

“…It would be desirable to create an artificial system that exploits the basic principles of natural photosynthesis in order to produce energy in an usable form [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Indeed, natural photosynthetic structures efficiently convert the energy of light into chemical form [7,8].…”

Suppression of geminate charge recombination in organic photovoltaic devices with a cascaded energy heterojunction

“…This challenge to OPVs has led researchers to take inspiration from photosynthesis where excited states are arranged in a 'cascade' that assists spatial separation of the electron and hole. This allows photosynthetic systems to achieve nearly unity charge separation efficiency [6][7][8] , although this comes at significant cost in energy. This effect can be mimicked in OPVs by using three or more materials, that when used in conjunction, give a donor-cascade-acceptor heterojunction in which one charge is stabilized far from the heterojunction.…”