[Todos] Fw: [Todos QI] SEMINARIO 19 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2009

[Mireille Perec]

Seminarios INQUIMAE-DQIAQF

 

 

Jueves 19 de Noviembre 13 hs.

Aula Seminarios INQUIMAE-DQIAQF

Ciudad Universitaria Pab. II 3° Piso

 
Professor Thomas A. Moore  

Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604  USA 



 

Artificial photosynthesis: Combining technology with biology for efficient solar energy conversion

 

 

Anthropogenic climate change is a problem facing humanity that is no less significant than war, famine, disease, the plight of refugees and the guarantee of human rights across the lands. Because climate change is inextricably linked to energy production and use, and global-level societal stability requires the convergence of Earth's developmentally diverse peoples to sustainable levels of energy, it is imperative for the first world to lead in the development of renewable energy sources and efficient transformations. Biological energy transduction processes offer examples of elegant machinery, made of earth-abundant materials, that operate efficiently and essentially isothermally. Moreover, biological systems exhibit repair, self-assembly and replication - features that so far remain elusive to human-engineered devices. Biological mainstream processes that might be advantageously incorporated into emerging energy technologies include catalysts for O2/H2O, H+/H2, CO2/CH2O redox reactions, reactions involving making/breaking carbon-carbon bonds, the redox chemistry of nitrogen, and many others. Focusing on solar energy conversion, photosynthesis inspires us to imagine technologies that would convert solar energy to fuel at rates commensurate with human use. Aspects of photosynthetic machinery that are important to future solar technologies include energy transfer, photoinduced electron transfer at molecular heterojunctions, protective mechanisms, and control networks. In addition to the design, synthesis and assembly of constructs that carry out such processes, artificial photosynthesis can define the design parameters to be used in the nascent field of synthetic biology to make vast, much needed improvements in the energy yield of photosynthesis1. 

 

1. Hambourger, M., et al., Chem Soc Rev 2009 38, 25.

 

 

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