A major initiative of the center will build on innovative research in a collaboration between Fritz Prinz and Arthur Grossman’s laboratory to generate electricity directly from photosynthesis and to use nanoelectrodes to probe photosynthesis in single algal cells. Prinz, Grossman and colleagues have already made advances in developing electrodes and algal platforms to extract energy from the photosynthetic apparatus. Ultimately, the research could yield a novel and highly efficient method for generating electricity from solar energy.
“While the work is still really in its infancy, it is critical for our energy future to develop highly efficient methods to extract energy directly from the photosynthetic system, before much of the energy is lost in downstream electron transfer processes,” says Grossman.
The center, one of 46 centers selected from 260 applications, will receive $20 million in funding over five years.