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Photosynthetic protein complexes have an overall quantum yield close to 100%. Photovoltaic devices using protein complexes can provide an economical alternative to existing solar cells. This book explains how to build and improve the efficiency of protein solar energy conversion devices.
List of contents
Learning from nature to improve better solar energy conversion devices. Not just plants perform photosynthesis. The reaction centers of photosynthetic organisms. Physics of electron transfer, dynamics, and pathway in different reaction centers. Working principle of some solar cells technology. Photosynthetic-reaction center solar cells. Alternative approaches to design photosynthetic solar cells. Stability issues and method to overcome this method. Using inorganic nano-materials to recreate photosynthetic proteins. Conclusions and future perspectives.
About the author
Swee Ching Tan received his bachelor’s degree in
Physics from the National University of Singapore
(NUS). He then worked for Hewlett Packard
Singapore and Ireland as a laser process and equipment
engineer to develop new technologies for silicon
micromachining. At Hewlett Packard, he made
two major contributions that helped the company to
achieve major cost-cutting goals and to increase the
throughput within his department. He was honored
with the Award for Outstanding Achievement for
these contributions to the company. He subsequently
gained PhD admission to the University of
Cambridge’s Electrical Engineering Department
with scholarships from Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and the Wingate
Foundation. His PhD work, under the supervision of Professor Sir Mark Welland,
involved using photosynthetic proteins as light-absorbing materials for solar cells.
After completing his PhD, Dr. Tan moved to the Department of Materials Science
and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to become a postdoctoral
associate working on nanoelectronics. He is currently an assistant professor in
the Department of Materials Science and Engineering with NUS Faculty of
Engineering.
Dr. Tan’s research interests span a wide range of areas in the fields of energy
and environmental sciences. The area of biohybrid photovoltaics is a core expertise
of his research lab with a number of new device architectures developed in recent
years. Dr. Tan’s research group has achieved breakthrough energy-harvesting performances
using natural and engineered photoproteins. His research group is also
working on developing organic ionic conductors and work-function engineering for
applications in energy harvesting and photosensing electronic devices. Bridging the
spheres of energy and environment sciences, the research group is also focusing
on developing low-energy and low-cost air filtration and thermal comfort technologies.
By engineering super-hygroscopic materials and hierarchically structured solar
absorbers, the research team led by Dr. Tan aims to develop clean water technologies
that could generate potable water not only from seawater but also out of humid air.
Summary
Photosynthetic protein complexes have an overall quantum yield close to 100%. Photovoltaic devices using protein complexes can provide an economical alternative to existing solar cells. This book explains how to build and improve the efficiency of protein solar energy conversion devices.
