Photosynthetic Cells In Solar Panels

The result is a first step in research.

Photosynthetic cells in solar panels.

Among photosynthetic pigments chlorophyll is the most crucial one which not only captures light energy from the sun but also participates in the electron transfer chain a molecular pathway. A natural process that occurs during photosynthesis could lead to the design of more efficient artificial solar cells according to researchers at georgia state university. While photosynthesis is a plant based chemical process solar cells or photovoltaic cells are man made and convert solar energy into electricity. It seems likely that people will continue to want liquid and solid fuels that can be burned whereas solar panels can only provide us with electricity.

For the first time researchers have successfully measured in detail the flow of solar energy in and between different parts of a photosynthetic organism. While solar panels are straining at the theoretical limits of their efficiency seeking to break free there s still a place for artificial photosynthesis which was for a long time a forgotten cousin. Solar cells release short lived electrons when. The researchers found that adding the br protein to perovskite solar cells improved the devices efficiency from 14 5 to 17 percent.

They reported their findings in the american chemical society journal acs applied materials and interfaces. However the production cost of silicon solar cells is high both in terms of monetary and energy costs. Actual plant s photosynthesis efficiency varies from 0 1 to 0 8 while solar panels convert light into electric energy at an efficiency of approximately 6 20 for mass produced panels and above. Currently the most widely used form of solar cells are made using silicon where silicon is essential to the photovoltaic process that converts light into electricity.