We have developed analytic methods that establish molecular
constraints to photochemical efficiency in the engineering and
construction of molecular photochemical materials and devices useful to
addressing the global energy challenge. The absence, to-date, of
analytic procedures has seriously handicapped progress in the
development of photochemical devices. The new methods will provide
important precise engineering guidelines to photochemical device
construction in the future.
Already aided by these engineering rules, designed photochemical
maquette proteins have been constructed that display long-lived
generation of oxidant and reductant, an essential step in the goal to
produce devices able to produce chemical fuels from sunlight.
Maquette cofactor dyads support light-induced charge separation stable
for milliseconds. Maquette framework with two porphyrins along with
electron transfer schemes. Right: Light induced difference spectra in a
ZnPPIX/Heme B containg maquette dyads using 2 nsec laser pulses and
continuous illumination.
