Investigating the ultrafast dynamics of natural and artificial light harvesting

研究自然光和人造光采集的超快动力学

基本信息

批准号：
1971468
负责人：
金额：
--
依托单位：
University of Bristol
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Studentship
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2017 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1971468
关键词：
Investigating ultrafast dynamics natural artificial

项目摘要

Plants, algae and certain bacteria efficiency capture the abundant sunlight incident on the Earth to drive photosynthesis- the process of converting carbon dioxide and water into simple sugars used for plant growth. Whilst a macroscopic understanding of natural photosynthesis has been established, microscopic details that underpin the so-called "design principles" of photosynthesis have yet to be fully detailed. Several roles for the protein that encapsulates the light harvesting chlorophyll moieties are recognised, but the specific molecular interactions between chlorophyll and protein residues that give rise to their unique bath response have eluded experimental studies. Model proteins with known x-ray crystal structures, that contain only one or two visible chromophores will be investigated to reveal the "bath" dynamics of the protein as a function of the binding residue and protein pocket.Man-made efforts to efficiency harness the solar flux have been far less effective, with relationships between the molecular structure and overall power conversion efficiencies only starting to emerge for a plethora of materials such as organic bulk-heterojunctions or semi-conducting materials. In all instances, the absorbed light is used to induce charge separation into electrons and holes, but the mechanism and location for such processes remain nebulous.Ultrafast multidimensional optical spectroscopies such as 2D electronic spectroscopy will be used to explore these phenomena, creating a map of energy flow between constituent molecules with femtosecond time resolution (1 fs = 1 millionth billionth of a second).

植物，藻类和某些细菌效率捕获了地球上充足的阳光以驱动光合作用 - 将二氧化碳和水转化为用于植物生长的简单糖的过程。尽管已经建立了对自然光合作用的宏观理解，但微观的细节是基于所谓的光合作用“设计原理”的基础。确认了包围光收集叶绿素部分的蛋白质的几个作用，但是叶绿素与蛋白质残基之间的特定分子相互作用导致其独特的浴反应有所避免实验研究。将研究具有已知X射线晶体结构的模型蛋白质，仅包含一个或两个可见的发色团，以揭示该蛋白质的“浴”动力学，这是结合残基和蛋白质口袋的函数。效率的效应太阳能的效率较低，效率较小，与分子结构和整体电力效率之间的关系之间的关系差不多散装 - 直率或半导体材料。在所有情况下，吸收的光都用于诱导电荷分离到电子和孔中，但是此类过程的机制和位置仍然存在。