With artificial photosynthesis, mankind could utilize solar energy to bind carbon dioxide and produce hydrogen. Chemists from Würzburg and Seoul have taken this one step further: They have synthesized a stack of dyes that comes very close to the photosynthetic apparatus of plants. It absorbs light energy, uses it to separate charge carriers and transfers them quickly and efficiently in the stack.

Photosynthesis is a marvelous process: plants use it to produce sugar molecules and oxygen from the simple starting materials carbon dioxide and water. They draw the energy they need for this complex process from sunlight.

If humans could imitate photosynthesis, it would have many advantages. The free energy from the sun could be used to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to build carbohydrates and other useful substances. It would also be possible to produce hydrogen, as photosynthesis splits water into its components oxygen and hydrogen.

Humans can do plenty, but plants have an ability we don’t: they make energy straight from sunlight, a superpower called photosynthesis. Yet new research shows that scientists are closing that gap.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have revealed the 3D structure of an artificial photosynthetic antenna protein complex, known as light-harvesting complex II (LHCII), and demonstrated that the artificial LHCII closely mirrors its natural counterpart. This discovery marks a significant step forward in understanding how plants harvest and manage solar energy, paving the way for future innovations in artificial photosynthesis.

The researchers, led by Associate Professor Ritsuko Fujii and then graduate student Soichiro Seki of the Graduate School of Science and Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, had their study published in PNAS Nexus.

A team of researchers has made an advancement in the field of multifunctional energy harvesting. Their latest study advances in understanding the photovoltaic effect in ferroelectric crystals.

The article, “Study on Influence of AC Poling on Bulk Photovoltaic Effect in Pb(Mg_1/3 Nb_2/3)O₃-PbTiO₃ Single Crystals,” published in Advanced Electronic Materials, reports the team’s recent research results regarding improving the electric output of the bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE) via manipulation of ferroelectric domains in oxide perovskite crystals.

In ordinary solar cells, the mechanism of harvesting the solar energy and then converting them into green electricity is based on the formation of p-n junctions of semiconductors. While the p-n junction has been invented for more than a century, widely used in the silicon industry nowadays, the BPVE is a more recently discovered physical phenomenon from the 1960s–1970s.

An international team of researchers affiliated with UNIST has unveiled a novel cross-linker additive that significantly addresses the longstanding stability issues associated with organic solar cells, also known as organic photovoltaics (OPVs).

With the incorporation of just 0.05% of this cross-linking agent, the lifespan of OPVs can be improved by over 59%. Industry analysts suggest this breakthrough brings the commercialization of OPVs—regarded as next-generation solar cells—closer to reality.

Led by Professor BongSoo Kim in the Department of Chemistry at UNIST, the research team, in collaboration with researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), the University of Lille in France, and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), identified the operational principles of this innovative cross-linker using a variety of advanced analytical techniques.

Producing ‘green’ energy-literally-from living plant ‘bio-solar cells’