Editorial: Bringing together the worlds of photosynthesis and photovoltaics: mechanisms, methods, and applications (original) (raw)

2023, Frontiers in Plant Science

Editorial on the Research Topic Bringing together the worlds of photosynthesis and photovoltaics: mechanisms, methods, and applications Solar energy is considered as the driving force not only for photosynthesis but also for photovoltaic cells. Both systems are structurally completely different but share common mechanisms. The basic units of the photosynthetic machinery are the pigment-proteincomplexes, known as photosystem I (PSI) and II (PSII) and the light-harvesting complex (LHCP). Arranged in highly organized manner and embedded in thylakoid membranes, sunlight will be absorbed and converted in chemical energy (as ATP) and reducing power (as NADPH) driven by electron transport in the so called light reactions. These two compounds will then be used to reduce CO 2 to simple sugars in the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle which forms the basis for the synthesis of more complex organic molecules. Together with these metabolic reactions, an important waste product, oxygen, is formed by the oxygen evolving complex (OEC), which is part of the photosystem II complex (Long et al., 2022). So, photosynthesis (PHS) converts solar energy into chemical energy, yielding a variety of products, including essential building blocks, biofuels, and biomass (Nikolaidis, 2023; Voloshin et al., 2023a; Voloshin et al., 2023b). In contrast, PVs transform sunlight into electricity, which can be stored and utilized for various applications. Recent years have witnessed significant advancements in our understanding of the fundamental processes involved in capturing light energy in both natural PHS and PV (El-Khouly et al., 2017). While these domains share common aspects such as light absorption, charge separation, Frontiers in Plant Science frontiersin.org 01