Photosynthetic Energy Conversion: Recent Advances and Future Perspective

Abstract

Photosynthesis is the most important natural process on earth, which transformed the once lifeless planet into a living world. While primitive photosynthetic bacteria such as purple sulfur bacteria and green sulfur bacteria carry out anoxygenic photosynthesis, producing elemental sulfur from hydrogen sulfide with the help of sunlight, cyanobacteria, algae and plants carry out oxygenic photosynthesis to convert water and carbon dioxide to sugars with the help of sunlight and release oxygen as a byproduct. The conversion of solar energy to chemical energy via photosynthesis with the release of oxygen has an evolutionary significance on life as we know it today. In fact, photosynthesis is the only natural process known on earth to form oxygen from water. Further, fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are formed from the remains of the dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth’s crust over millions of years. With increasing