Solid state emulation of the photosynthetic reaction center

Abstract

The photosynthetic reaction center of plants and bacteria is an extremely efficient energy to charge conversion device. Solar photons create excitons in the pigment molecules. These excitons are then transferred to the reaction center where charge separation takes place. These processes - excitonic generation and subsequent charge separation are extremely efficient with almost unity efficiency. Taking pointers from this biophysical process, we propose a GaN quantum dot based solid state energy to charge conversion device idea that emulates the photosynthetic reaction center. This further suggests that highly efficient quantum biological processes can give important pointers for developing energy harvesting quantum technologies.