Development of light-harvesting synthetic woods for artificial photosynthesis

Abstract

Green plants have inspired scientists to design artificial light-harvesting assemblies for the efficient utilization of unlimited solar energy and the conversion to electrical or chemical energies. Here we report the development of an integrated artificial photosynthetic system through the reassembly of raw materials from plants as a support for the encapsulation of porphyrins. Similar to the natural light-harvesting by chloroplasts, porphyrin-encapsulated lignocellulosic hybrids harnessed visible-light driven regeneration of a reducing power (i.e., NADH) for the production of fine chemicals by enzymes that require NADH as a redox equivalent. The synthetic wood not only provided a sustainable microenvironment for porphyrin encapsulation but also exhibited an effective photosynthesis due to redox-active lignin component. This bio-inspired strategy of utilizing natural renewable biomaterials for artificial photosynthesis is a new way for the sustainable development of light harvesting assemblies through facile and environmentally-friendly fabrication under mild conditions.