Photoelectrochemical Complexes of Fucoxanthin‐Chlorophyll Protein for Bio‐Photovoltaic Conversion with a High Open‐Circuit Photovoltage

Abstract

Open-circuit photovoltage (V ) is among the critical parameters for achieving an efficient light-to-charge conversion in existing solar photovoltaic devices. Natural photosynthesis exploits light-harvesting chlorophyll (Chl) protein complexes to transfer sunlight energy efficiently. We describe the exploitation of photosynthetic fucoxanthin-chlorophyll protein (FCP) complexes for realizing photoelectrochemical cells with a high V . An antenna-dependent photocurrent response and a V up to 0.72 V are observed and demonstrated in the bio-photovoltaic devices fabricated with photosynthetic FCP complexes and TiO nanostructures. Such high V is determined by fucoxanthin in FCP complexes, and is rarely found in photoelectrochemical cells with other natural light-harvesting antenna. We think that the FCP-based bio-photovoltaic conversion will provide an opportunity to fabricate environmental benign photoelectrochemical cells with high V , and also help improve the understanding of the essential physics behind the light-to-charge conversion in photosynthetic complexes.

The Critical Studies of Fucoxanthin Research Trends from 1928 to June 2021: A Bibliometric Review

“…For renewable energy, brown macroalgae (Sargassum wightii) extract (contained fucoxanthin) was shown to be suitable as a sensitizer in a solar cell, as it is a low-cost and environmentally friendly alternative to the ruthenium metal complexes [157]. In addition, high open-circuit photovoltage was observed in the bio-photovoltaic devices fabricated with FCP complexes and titanium dioxide nanostructures [158]. These findings indicated the possibility of fucoxanthin to be exploited in solar cells at the commercial level.…”

In Depth Analysis of Photovoltaic Performance of Chlorophyll Derivative-Based “All Solid-State” Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Photovoltaic conversion of solar energy is considered to be one of the most significant ways of addressing the growing global energy crisis [1]. In this context, utilizing biomass resources for the conversion of solar energy has been receiving increasing attention from industry, academia and governments and will become a major challenge of our future [2][3][4]. Biomass has a great potential as a renewable feedstock for producing solar energy [5,6].…”

“…5 Hz, 18 1 -CH 3 ), 1.57 (t, 3H,3 J H-H = 7.7 Hz, 8 2 -CH 3 ), 0.08, −1.97 (s, each 1H, NH) ppm 13. C{ 1 H} NMR (151 MHz, CDCl 3 /Pyr): δ = 195.6, 173.1, 170.7, 169.1, 160.7, 154.7, 151.0, 149.4, 148.5, 144.7, 140.3, 138.1, 136.3, 135.5, 135.4, 133.5, 131.9, 130.7, 128.5, 126.3, 123.2, 106.2, 103.6, 96.7, 93.5, 51.6, 51.3, 49.6, 47.8, 30.7, 29.6, 22.9, 19.2, 17.2, 12.4, 11.8, 11.0 ppm.…”