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Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

30/11/22 13:16 PM IST

IISER, IIT researchers develop new artificial photosynthetic system to capture solar energy

In News 
  • Researchers from IISER-Thiruvananthapuram and IIT-Indore have jointly developed an artificial light-harvesting system that will help capture solar energy.
About the system 
  • Scientists have a novel artificial light-capturing system that imitates the process of photosynthesis to effectively capture light to conserve power.
  • This technology addresses various challenges faced while replicating the complex process of photosynthesis as well as the problems associated with light absorbers and transmitters.
  • The new artificial photosynthetic system makes use of clusters of silver with a nanometer dimension, which is a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of human hair.
  • These silver nanoclusters have complicated and exotic photophysical properties.
  • The researchers were able to stabilize them with bulky ligands and entrap the entire ensemble inside another larger molecule called cyclodextrin.
  • This is the first time that an atom-precise nanoclusters were used for this application.
  • It provides 93 per cent effective energy transfer because of the presence of opposite charges on the surface and the matched electronic energy distribution.
  • The harvested energy can generate currents having higher yields than individual components.
Significance 
  • The new technology paves the way for designing of new light-harvesting materials that can improve the efficiency of solar cells and minimize the energy loss.
  • Such technologies will help countries achieve their net zero carbon emissions and meet future energy needs through renewable energy sources.
Source- The Hindu 

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