Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Faraday Discuss. 2012;155:27-41; discussion 103-14. doi: 10.1039/c1fd00078k.
Photosynthetic organisms are capable of harvesting solar energy with near unity quantum efficiency. Even more impressively, this efficiency can be regulated in response to the demands of photosynthetic reactions and the fluctuating light-levels of natural environments. We discuss the distinctive design principles through which photosynthetic light-harvesting functions. These emergent properties of photosynthesis appear both within individual pigment-protein complexes and in how these complexes integrate to produce a functional, regulated apparatus that drives downstream photochemistry. One important property is how the strong interactions and resultant quantum coherence, produced by the dense packing of photosynthetic pigments, provide a tool to optimize for ultrafast, directed energy transfer. We also describe how excess energy is quenched to prevent photodamage under high-light conditions, which we investigate through theory and experiment. We conclude with comments on the potential of using these features to improve solar energy devices.
光合作用生物能够以近 100%的量子效率收集太阳能。更令人印象深刻的是，这种效率可以根据光合作用反应的需求以及自然环境中波动的光强进行调节。我们讨论了光合作用中光捕获功能的独特设计原则。这些光合作用的涌现特性既存在于单个色素-蛋白复合物中，也存在于这些复合物如何整合以产生一个功能调节的仪器，从而驱动下游光化学反应。一个重要的特性是，光合作用色素的密集排列产生的强相互作用和相干性如何为优化超快、定向能量转移提供工具。我们还描述了如何通过理论和实验来研究如何在高光条件下耗散多余的能量以防止光损伤。最后，我们对利用这些特性来提高太阳能设备的潜力进行了评论。
