Recent Advances in Photosynthetic Energy Conversion

Publication date: Available online 21 September 2014 Source:Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews Author(s): Narendran Sekar , Ramaraja P. Ramasamy Photosynthesis is one of the first natural processes evolved by cyanobacteria, algae and green plants to trap light and CO2 in the form of reduced carbon compounds while simultaneously oxidizing water to oxygen. The photosynthetic energy conversion forms the basis for all the existing life today. The photosynthetic energy is being harnessed in many ways using modern technologies for the production of fuels using photosynthetic organisms, generation of direct electricity using photosystems/photosynthetic organisms in photo-bioelectrochemical cells or through photovoltaic systems. While the production of energy rich carbon fuels (ethanol, propanol) from photosynthetic organisms has already been accomplished due to advancement in understanding microbial physiology and metabolism, the photosynthetic hydrogen production as well as direct electricity generation from light is still at its infancy. Recent advances include combining photosystem complexes with hydrogenases for hydrogen production, using isolated thylakoids, photosystems on nanostructured electrodes such as gold nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, ZnO nanoparticles for electricity generation. Many challenging optimizations on the immobilization methods, catalyst stability and isolation procedures, electron transfer strategies have acquired m...
Source: Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research