Related papers: An efficient biologically-inspired photocell enhan…
The high quantum efficiency of photosynthetic complexes has inspired researchers to explore new routes to utilize this process for photovoltaic devices. Quantum coherence has been demonstrated to play a crucial role within this process.…
In this work, we propose an efficient quantum-enhanced solid-state photocell based on GaN quantum dots. We exploit the strong built-in electric field in GaN QDs and excitonic dipole-dipole coupling between adjacent QDs to break detailed…
It is thought that nature already exploits quantum mechanical properties to increase the efficiency of solar energy harvesting devices. So, the operation of these devices can be enhanced by clever design of a nanoscopic, quantum mechanical…
In natural light harvesting systems, the sequential quantum events of photon absorption by specialized biological antenna complexes, charge separation, exciton formation and energy transfer to localized reaction centers culminates in the…
Conventional photocells suffer a fundamental efficiency threshold imposed by the principle of detailed balance, reflecting the fact that good absorbers must necessarily also be fast emitters. This limitation can be overcome by `parking' the…
Answering the titular question has become a central motivation in the field of quantum biology, ever since the idea was raised following a series of experiments demonstrating wave-like behavior in photosynthetic complexes. Here, we report a…
In this study, we present a generalized quantum photocell model inspired by biological light-harvesting complexes, designed to probe the influence of donor multiplicity on photovoltaic performance. Building upon earlier two and three-donor…
Manipulating the flow of energy in nanoscale and molecular photonic devices is of both fundamental interest and central importance for applications in light harvesting optoelectronics. Under erratic solar irradiance conditions, unregulated…
One of the major goals of nanobionics and bottom-up synthetic biology is the development of artificial cell organelles for the creation of cell-like structures operating similar to biological systems with a minimalistic set of building…
We show that quantum coherence can increase the quantum efficiency of various thermodynamic systems. For example, we can enhance the quantum efficiency for a quantum dot photocell, a laser based solar cell and the photo-Carnot quantum heat…
Photon impingement is capable of liberating electrons in electronic devices and driving the electron flux from the lower chemical potential to higher chemical potential. Previous studies hinted that the thermodynamic efficiency of a…
Charge separation in light-harvesting complexes occurs in a pair of tightly coupled chlorophylls at the heart of photosynthetic reaction centers of both plants and bacteria. Recently it has been shown that quantum coherence can, in…
We investigate the quantum dynamics of energy and charge transfer in a wheel-shaped artificial photosynthetic antenna-reaction center complex.This complex consists of six light-harvesting chromophores and an electron-acceptor fullerene. To…
Modelling of photonic devices traditionally involves solving the equations of light-matter interaction and light propagation, and it is restrained by their applicability. Here we demonstrate an alternative modelling methodology by creating…
We investigate the quantum thermodynamics of two quantum systems, a two-level system and a four-level quantum photocell, each driven by photon pulses as a quantum heat engine. We set these systems to be in thermal contact only with a cold…
The implementation of a wide range of novel concepts for next-generation high-efficiency solar cells is based on nanostructures with configuration-tunable optoelectronic properties. On the other hand, effective nano-optical light-trapping…
Strong light-matter interactions enabled by surface plasmons have given rise to a wide range of photonic, optoelectronic and chemical functionalities. In recent years, the interest in this research area has focused on the quantum regime,…
Recent evidence suggests that the multi charge-separation pathways can contribute to the photosynthetic performance. In this work, the influence of coupled-dipoles on the photosynthetic performance was investigated in a two-charge…
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…
Efficient devices for light harvesting and photon sensing are fundamental building blocks of basic energy science and many essential technologies. Recent efforts have turned to biomimicry to design the next generation of light-capturing…