Improve Solar Technology -Design a Biomimic of Photosynthesis

Science & Technology (alternative energy)

Graham Fleming from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, has led the development of a new technology which can see into the heart of photosynthesis; electron transfer. The ability to capture light and then transfer that energy to do work are two main steps in a photovoltaic system. While much of the research focus has traditionally been on light capture, the transfer of the captured energy remains a technological hurdle. Green plants are masters of this trick; the energy they capture is transferred with almost 100% efficiency.

“Nature has designed one of the most exquisitely effective systems for harvesting light, with the steps happening too fast for energy to be wasted as heat. Current solar power systems, however, aren’t following Nature’s model.” -Graham Fleming

Natures design, after being honed for millennia, takes advantage of molecules on the quantum mechanical level, as mentioned in an earlier post, the ability to control the 3 dimensional design of a system is key to its success. I still find it amazing how important design is, and how often nature has technological solutions if you just know where and how to look. This technology may be useful to the people at Konarka for developing new and improved flexible solar technologies. ::LBNL [by T. McGee]