Employing the utility of the native chemical ligation, site-specific attachment of an ultrastable perylene dye to a derivative of the major light-harvesting complex (LHCII) was demonstrated. Biochemical analysis of the conjugate indicated that the structure and function of LHCII remain largely unaffected by the N-terminal modification.

We present here the first room-temperature 2D electronic spectroscopy study of energy transfer in the plant light-harvesting complex II, LHCII. Two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy has been used to study energy transfer dynamics in LHCII trimers from the chlorophyll b Qy band to the chlorophyll a Qy band. Observing cross-peak regions corresponding to couplings between different excitonic sta...

The ability to dissipate large fractions of their absorbed light energy as heat is a vital photoprotective function of the peripheral light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes in photosystem II of plants. The major component of this process, known as qE, is characterised by the appearance of low-energy (red-shifted) absorption and fluorescence bands. Although the appearance of these red states...

The near-unity efficiency of energy transfer in photosynthesis makes photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes a promising avenue for developing new renewable energy technologies. Knowledge of the energy landscape of these complexes is essential in understanding their function, but its experimental determination has proven elusive. Here, the observation of quantum coherence using two-dimensiona...

Doping a zinc porphyrin based-sensitizer with antenna molecules, axially held by metallo-supramolecular interactions, enhances the light-harvesting efficiency and the overall photo-conversion efficiency of the solar cells by about 30%.

ZnO nanostructures were manipulated, via a low-temperature solution process, from pure nanorod arrays to complex nanostructures of microflowers on nanorod arrays with adjusted quantities of flowers. We proposed the mechanism of local dissolution-driven growth to rationally discuss the novel growth process. These nanostructures were used as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells. Compared to ...

Energy harvesting is an attractive solution to extend system lifetime for internet of everything (IoE) nodes. Ambient light is a common energy source that can be harvested by photovoltaic (PV) cells. However, light intensity varies widely depending on location, ranging from ~10s of lux in dim indoor conditions to ~100klux under direct sunlight. Designing a fully integrated light harvester that ...

Dendrimers bearing pyrene donor groups have been obtained and act as efficient light-harvesting antennae capable of transferring light energy through space from their periphery to their core. The light-harvesting ability increases with each generation due to an increase in the number of peripheral pyrenes. In order to evaluate the photovoltaic properties of the compounds, thermal evaporated thi...

Plants must regulate their use of absorbed light energy on a minute-by-minute basis to maximize the efficiency of photosynthesis and to protect photosystem II (PSII) reaction centers from photooxidative damage. The regulation of light harvesting involves the photoprotective dissipation of excess absorbed light energy in the light-harvesting antenna complexes (LHCs) as heat. Here, we report an i...