Enhancement of Photocurrent by Integration of an Artificial Light-Harvesting Antenna with a Photosystem I Photovoltaic Device

Abstract

Photosynthetic pigment–protein-based biophotovoltaic devices are attracting interest as environmentally friendly energy sources. Photosystem I (PSI), a photosynthetic pigment–protein, is a proven biophotovoltaic material because of its abundance and high charge separation quantum efficiency. However, the photocurrent of these biophotovoltaic devices is not high because of their low spectral response. We have integrated an artificial light-harvesting antenna into a PSI-based biophotovoltaic device to expand the spectral response. To fabricate the device, a perylene di-imide derivative (PTCDI) was introduced onto a TiO2 surface as an artificial antenna. In the photovoltaic cells formed by the PTCDI/PSI-assembled TiO2 electrode, the magnitude of the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency spectrum was significantly enhanced in the range 450–750 nm, and the photocurrent increased to 0.47 mA/cm2. The result indicates that the photons absorbed by PTCDI transfer to PSI via Förster resonance energy transfer.