相关论文: What limits photosynthesis? Identifying the thermo…
Improving the conversion efficiency of solar energy to electricity is most important to mankind. For single-junction photovoltaic solar-cells, the Shockley-Queisser thermodynamic efficiency limit is extensively due to the heat dissipation,…
The circumstellar habitable zone and its various refinements serves as a useful entry point for discussing the potential for a planet to generate and sustain life. But little attention is paid to the quality of available energy in the form…
Recent observations of coherence in photosynthetic complexes have led to the question of whether quantum effects can occur in vivo, not under femtosecond laser pulses but in incoherent sunlight and at steady state, and, if so, whether the…
In this paper we show how inter-cellular molecular communication may change the overall levels of photosynthesis in plants. Individual plant cells respond to external stimuli, such as illumination levels, to regulate their photosynthetic…
Strong light-matter interactions in silicon metasurfaces give rise to photothermal nonlinearities. While the effect of this strong coupling on light has been extensively studied, its impact on matter remains largely unexplored. Here, we…
Photosynthesis is remarkable, achieving near unity light harvesting quantum efficiency in spite of dynamic light conditions and noisy physiological environment. Under these adverse conditions, it remains unknown whether there exists a…
A fundamental issue that limits the efficiency of many photoelectrochemical systems is that the photon absorption length is typically much longer than the electron diffusion length. Various photon management schemes have been developed to…
Photosynthesis first step mechanism concerns the sunlight absorption and both negative and positive charges separation. Recent and important photosynthesis literature claims that this mechanism is quantum mechanics controlled, however…
The illumination of catalytic surfaces with a continuous or pulsed stream of photons dynamically modulates surface chemistry for faster rates, higher conversion, or product selectivity control. To establish fundamental principles of dynamic…
How photosynthesis by Precambrian cyanobacteria oxygenated Earth's biosphere remains incompletely understood. Here it is argued that the oxic transition, which took place between approximately 2.3 and 0.5 Gyr ago, required a great…
It is well known that evaporative cooling of Earth's surface water reduces the amount of radiation that goes into sensible heat, namely the portion of radiation that produces higher temperatures. However, a rigorous use of long-term…
The history of the Earth has been marked by major ecological transitions, driven by metabolic innovation, that radically reshaped the composition of the oceans and atmosphere. The nature and magnitude of the earliest transitions, hundreds…
Vegetation often understood merely as the result of long-term climate conditions. However, vegetation itself plays a fundamental role in shaping Earth's climate by regulating the energy, water, and biogeochemical cycles across terrestrial…
The terrestrial water cycle links the soil and atmosphere moisture reservoirs through four fluxes: precipitation, evaporation, runoff and atmospheric moisture convergence. Each of these fluxes is essential for human and ecosystem…
The biosignatures of life on Earth do not remain static, but change considerably over the planet's habitable lifetime. Earth's future biosphere, much like that of the early Earth, will consist of predominantly unicellular microorganisms due…
Bose condensed light can form new phases [1] in a dye filled cavity due to the presence of the orientational disorder created by dye molecules which are essentially frozen on the time scale of the photonic thermalization (few ps). At longer…
Photovoltaic energy conversion in photovoltaic cells has been analyzed by the detailed balance approach or by thermodynamic arguments. Here we introduce a network representation to analyze the performance of such systems once a suitable…
Free energy and entropy are examined in detail from the standpoint of classical thermodynamics. The approach is logically based on the fact that thermodynamic work is mediated by thermal energy through the tendency for nonthermal energy to…
We modify a mathematical model of photosynthesis to quantify the perturbations that high energy muons could make on aquatic primary productivity. Then we apply this in the context of the extragalactic shock model, according to which Earth…
The functioning and efficiency of natural photosynthetic complexes is strongly influenced by their embedding in a noisy protein environment, which can even serve to enhance the transport efficiency. Interactions with the environment induce…