Artificial Photosynthesis: Twice as Efficient as the Real Thing

Artificial Photosynthesis: Twice as Efficient as the Real Thing: "Artificial Photosynthesis: Twice as Efficient as the Real Thing"

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The artificial leaf is poised to be one of the next big breakthroughs in energy. If we can learn to mimic the biological mechanism by which plants convert solar energy into hydrogen, the sky is the limit. Millions of years of evolution have already proved the worth of photosynthesis, even if it's not all that efficient in its natural state.

And now researchers have created a bionanodevice that not only mimics the mechanism of photosynthesis, but is twice as efficient. They modified the photosynthetic proteins found in cyanobacteria — bacteria which gain their energy through photosynthesis. They frankensteined together proteins from Synechococcus sp. with those from Clostridium acetobutylicum using molecular wire to create a "hybrid biological/organic nanoconstruct" that was more efficient than either on their own.