Enhanced Biological Photosynthetic Efficiency Using Light‐Harvesting Engineering with Dual‐Emissive Carbon Dots

Abstract

Enhancing solar energy conversion is imperative and maximizing solar energy capture remains significant. Here, nanotechnology toward engineering hybrid photosystem involving biological photosynthetic chloroplasts and dualemissive carbon dots (CDs) is employed for improved photosynthesis by harnessing more effective light. Specifically, the as-prepared CDs show strong absorption in ultraviolet (UV) light region and exhibit intense blue and red light in water, which exactly match the absorption spectrum of chloroplasts. After coating the CDs on the surface of extracted chloroplasts, the hybrid photosystem produces 2.8 times more adenosine triphosphate (ATP) than chloroplasts themselves in vitro. Moreover, CD-induced enhancement of photosynthesis in living plant is proved as well, showing a maximum increase of 25% in electron transport rates over the leaves without CDs, demonstrating the effective nanobionics engineering of plant performance in vivo. This is the first report on employing the unique dual-emission trait of nanoparticles, especially the red emission, to augment photoabsorption of both extracted chloroplasts and intact leaves for enhanced photosynthetic properties. This work provides a promising strategy for engineering biological photosynthetic system with dual-emissive CDs to enhance solar energy conversion both in vivo and in vitro, and promotes the development in the field of nanobionic.

Biomass‐Derived Carbon Dots and Their Applications

“…The average diameter of the BCDs prepared was about 4.6 nm. Phellodendron chinense schneid is a plant that can be used as a Chinese herbal medicine. With PCS as carbon source and ethanol as solvent, dual‐emission BCDs was prepared by hydrothermal method.…”

Engineering Inorganic Nanoflares with Elaborate Enzymatic Specificity and Efficiency for Versatile Biofilm Eradication

“…The UV–vis absorption spectrum of CDs exhibited dominant absorption band in 520–560 nm region (Figure S4C, Supporting Information), which might be attributed to the n–π* edge transition of CN/CN or CO structure. [ 23 ] Meanwhile, the CDs exhibited a strong red‐emission at 655 nm under an excitation of 540 nm (Figure S4D, Supporting Information). The CDs showed wavelength‐independent PL behavior with different excitation wavelength, suggesting that the PL of CDs might be dominated by the relative uniform surface defect state.…”

Enhanced Biophotocurrent Generation in Living Photosynthetic Optical Resonator

“…[11,12] Recent advances have sought to solve the electrochemical aspects of BPVs, including the design of chambers, nanomaterials, and electrodes [11,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] as well as nanophotonic structures to improve the photon-conversion efficiency. [20][21][22][23][24] Instead of enhancing the light-conversion efficiency, [18,21,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30] in the present work, we explore the possibility of improving the energy-transfer efficiency in photosystems through the encapsulation of a living photosynthetic center in an optical microcavity. Whereas microcavities have been utilized to amplify biooptical signals in many ways, [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] they have never been employed to amplify bioelectrical signals.…”