Light harvesting with many man-made leaves

Jeanne Andres writes about a HOT Chemical Science article for Chemistry World

Scientists from Japan have harvested light energy using an exceptionally large number of light absorbers to relay photons via antennas into one final energy acceptor. This two-step sequence closely mimics natural photosynthesis, resulting in greater and more efficient energy transfer.

Previously, researchers had only used one-step light harvesting systems, greatly limiting the number of absorbers able to feed light into a single reaction centre. Now, by imitating photosynthetic systems, Osamu Ishitani at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Shinji Inagaki at the Toyota Central R&D labs and their co-workers have efficiently harvested light using the highest number of artificial leaves to date.


Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science:
Efficient Light Harvesting via Sequential Two-Step Energy Accumulation Using a Ru–Re5 Multinuclear Complex Incorporated into Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica
Yohei Yamamoto, Hiroyuki Takeda, Tatsuto Yui, Kotaro Ueda, Kazuhide Koike, Shinji Inagaki and Osamu Ishitani 
Chem. Sci., 2013, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C3SC51959G

 

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