No Alternatives to Photosynthesis: From Molecules to Nanostructures

Abstract

Photosynthetic conversion of light energy into chemical energy plays a central role in the evolution of and sustaining the present state of life on Earth. The exceptional evolutionary success of photosynthesis directs research in many academic and industrial laboratories toward better understanding the natural processes and motivates attempts to emulate the whole process or the basic parts of it for different purposes. Thanks to the huge global efforts and investments of decision-makers and scientists into photosynthesis research in the academic and industrial laboratories during the past few decades, the structural, energetic, and ultrafast (fs–ps) kinetic properties of practically 212all components of this machinery are well known. By using this tremendous valuable information, it might be challenging to try to increase the photosynthetic biomass production, which is surprisingly very small (only a few percentages). It is really thought-provoking that increasing the yield of photosynthesis for crop plants, e.g., by a factor of two, from 1% to 2% means a twofold increase in the amount of photosynthetic production! As the structural and functional details are quite well known, we might have good chances to manage energy optimization and increase crop yields. The availability of advanced new-generation technologies motivates novel generations of applications based upon the photosynthesis phenomenon. The unique potential of using the exceptional properties of the photosynthetic apparatus may offer applications in such areas of technologies as optoelectronics, photonics, sensor design, optical switches, micro-imaging, and telecommunication. In this chapter, we discuss and show that any fundamental and applied research of photosynthesis in academic and industrial laboratories drives us closer to the understanding of this process in more detail, and helps in the development of more efficient new generation technologies, in agriculture as well. We may surely conclude that there is no real alternative to photosynthesis when maintaining the sustainable earthly biosphere. The only alternative would be to improve its efficiency up to the highest possible level, which is feasible and reachable with the focused global efforts of interests in the field.