Stones, R;
Hossein-Nejad, H;
van Grondelle, R;
Olaya-Castro, A;
(2017)
On the performance of a photosystem II reaction centre-based photocell.
Chem. Sci.
, 8
(10)
pp. 6871-6880.
10.1039/C7SC02983G.
Preview |
Text
c7sc02983g.pdf - Published Version Download (671kB) | Preview |
Abstract
The photosystem II reaction centre is the photosynthetic complex responsible for oxygen production on Earth. Its water splitting function is particularly favoured by the formation of a stable charge separated state via a pathway that starts at an accessory chlorophyll. Here we envision a photovoltaic device that places one of these complexes between electrodes and investigate how the mean current and its fluctuations depend on the microscopic interactions underlying charge separation in the pathway considered. Our results indicate that coupling to well resolved vibrational modes does not necessarily offer an advantage in terms of power output but can lead to photo-currents with suppressed noise levels characterizing a multi-step ordered transport process. Besides giving insight into the suitability of these complexes for molecular-scale photovoltaics, our work suggests a new possible biological function for the vibrational environment of photosynthetic reaction centres, namely, to reduce the intrinsic current noise for regulatory processes.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | On the performance of a photosystem II reaction centre-based photocell |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1039/C7SC02983G |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7SC02983G |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY 3.0). |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10024842 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
