Elucidation of the excited-state properties of the oceanic photosynthetic pigment, chlorophyll c in both biological and dye-sensitized solar cell

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23684020
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Condensed matter physics I
• Research Institution: Osaka City University
• Principal Investigator: Fujii Ritsuko 大阪市立大学, 複合先端研究機構, 准教授 (80351740)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 光物性 / 生体分子 / 光合成 / クロロフィル / 太陽電池

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Chlorophyll (Chl) c is the natural porphyrin widely distributed in the oceanic phototrophs. It harvests light energy and deliver it to the photoreaction center when bound to the photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes. Chl c also can make a chemical bond to TiO2 through its carboxy end group to inject electron with as high as 5% of incident photon to current conversion efficiency when fabricated in a dye-sensitized solar cell. This work aimed to elucidate the excited-state properties of Chl c, which must be a clue to clarify those molecular mechanisms performed by Chl c. First, we have successfully purified Chl c, which is a hardly-separated organic-acid and is present as a minor component in the brown alga, by introducing a high-speed counter current chromatography. Second, we observed a systematic change in the optical properties of the Chl c depending on the pH of the organic solvent. Finally fs-time-resolved absorption spectroscopy of Chl c was recorded in several conditions.

Free Research Field

生物物理化学