In a potential boost to green hydrogen production chemists have developed a novel dye stack which closely mimics the photosynthetic apparatus of plants, allowing for the conversion of carbon dioxide into hydrogen or other useful substances, bringing us one step closer to full artificial photosynthesis.
The method, published in Nature Chemistry, relies on a novel stack of dyes to absorb light energy at one end before separating the charge carriers and transferring them via electron transport. The structure is comprised of four stacked dye molecules all from the perylene bisimide class.
"We can specifically trigger the charge transport in this structure with light and have analyzed it in detail. It is efficient and fast. This is an important step towards the development of artificial photosynthesis," said Leander Ernst, a Ph.D. student at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg.
To expand on their research, the team plan to expand the system of stacked dye molecules to include more components with the goal of developing a supramolecular wire to absorb and transfer light energy efficiently over long distances. The findings of the study and future optimization will bring us one step closer to the development of novel photofunctional materials and artificial photosynthesis.