Our objective is to adapt the fundamental principles of natural photosynthesis to the man-made production of hydrogen or other fuels from sunlight

A multidisciplinary team will research artificial photosynthetic antennas and reaction centers that absorb light efficiently and convert it to electrochemical energy, a water oxidation catalyst based on that found in photosynthesis and assembled in a way that mimics the process used by nature,and an electron accumulator and proton reduction catalyst based on natural hydrogenase enzymes. The antennas and reaction centers will be designed using the techniques of organic chemistry. The catalysts will be developed using peptide engineering methods. These components will be structurally organized using concepts from materials science, nanotechnology and nucleic acid engineering.