A research team at Lund University has used mirrors, placed only a few hundred nanometres apart, to use light more efficiently. The finding could eventually be useful for controlling solar energy conversion during photosynthesis, or other reactions driven by light.
Harnessing solar energy to capture greenhouse gases is extremely popular in scientific research. This is because the sunlight that hits Earth for one hour is almost equivalent to the total energy consumption of mankind for an entire year.
At the same time, our global emissions of carbon dioxide are increasing. The application of this mirror method could help convert carbon dioxide into useful fuels.
The study, titled ‘Optical cavity-mediated exciton dynamics in photosynthetic light harvesting 2 complexes,’ was published in Nature Communications.
Using advanced materials to reduce greenhouse gases
The team has made new…
Could mirrors be the key to controlling solar energy during photosynthesis?
