Berlin 2014 – scientific programme

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SYPE: Symposium Physics for the Energy Turn

SYPE 1: Physics for the Energy Turn

SYPE 1.4: Invited Talk

Monday, March 17, 2014, 14:45–15:00, Kinosaal

Photosynthesis: lessons from nature — •Rienk van Grondelle — VU University, Faculty of Science, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Photosynthesis is the process that converts solar energy into chemical free energy. The global rate of energy storage by photosynthesis is 150 TW (1 TW = 10¹² W), while human energy consumption is about 17 TW. To harvest solar photons nature applies a variety of dedicated design principles. A plant harvests photons with almost 100% quantum efficiency, meaning that every photon that is absorbed by the plant is used for photosynthesis. Once absorbed the energy is transported on an ultrafast (femtosecond)timescale from one chlorophyll to the next to reach a special chlorophyll-protein, the reaction center, a true ’biosolar cell’ where again with close to 100% quantum efficiency the energy is converted into a trans-membrane electrochemical gradient via charge transfer across the photosynthetic membrane. In this talk I will illustrate some of the physical principles used by nature and show how by studying the natural process we may learn how to build the next generation of solar cells