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SUMMARY:Molecular Photosynthesis: Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On - Profe
 ssor Marcella Bonchio (University of Padova and ITM-CNR\, Department of Ch
 emical Sciences)
DTSTART:20190124T113000Z
DTEND:20190124T123000Z
UID:TALK117685@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lingtao Kong
DESCRIPTION:The use of solar-activated H2O/CO2 routines as a feed-stock fo
 r photosynthetic processes is nowadays a breakthrough concept for sustaina
 ble energy\, solar fuels\, green chemistry and food security. The enormous
  potential of this vital cycle is far from being adequately exploited. Ind
 eed\, Natural Photosynthesis will not be adequate to feed the world and po
 wer its energy needs in the next decades. As a result of a population incr
 ease up to 9 billion people\, the global demand for food and energy will i
 ncrease more than 60% by 2050. In this time-frame\, a spontaneous\, evolut
 ionary burst of the Natural Machinery is out of reach. \n\n\nThe game-chan
 ger relies on a man-made re-design of photosynthesis to overcome the natur
 al bottlenecks\, efficiency losses\, and govern land exploitation conflict
 s for food and energy (bio-fuels) production. The urgency is such that we 
 need to accelerate the equivalent of 100 million years evolution to orders
  of magnitude less contingency. \nResearch on Artificial Photosynthesis is
  taking the risk of this revolution\, by focussing on the high-gain of a s
 ustainable\, clean and secure future “….the guarded secret of the plan
 ts\, mastered by human industry which will know how to make them bear even
  more abundant fruit than nature\, for Nature is not in a hurry and mankin
 d is” (Giacomo Ciamician “The photochemistry of the future” Science 
 1912\, 36\, 385-394).\nAn extraordinary research effort has been dedicated
  to elucidate the structural and mechanistic prerogatives of the natural o
 xygen evolving complex embedded within the photosystem II enzyme (PSII-OEC
 ). A recent breakthrough in the field of artificial photosynthesis is the 
 discovery of synthetic multi-redox catalysts\, as analogs of the PSII-OEC 
 (Scheme 1)\, with a common functional-motif\, i.e. a redox-active\, tetran
 uclear {M4(-O)4 core boosting H2O oxidation to O2 with unprecedented ef
 ficiency. Our vision points to a careful choice/design of the catalytic co
 re\, of its ligand set and of the surrounding nano-environment. We report 
 herein a combined synthetic\, spectroscopic and mechanistic study on the u
 se multi-metal catalysts for water oxidation and their combined use with v
 isible light sensitizers and carbon nanostructures (CNS). The outcome is a
  hybrid nanomaterial with unperturbed CNS electrical properties\, enabling
  water splitting with high efficiency at overpotentials as low as the natu
 ral protein.\n\n1)	Bonchio\, M.\; Fornasiero\, P.\; Prato M. et al. Energy
  Environ. Sci. 2018\, 11\, 1571-1580\n2)	Squarcina\, A.\; Sorarù\, A.\; R
 igodanza\, F.\, Carraro\, M.\; Bonchio\, M. et al. ACS Catal. 2017\, 7\, 1
 971-1976.\n3)	Sartorel\, A.\; Scandola\, F.\; Kortz\, U.\; Bonchio\, M. et
  al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.\, 2014.\,126\, 11364-11367.\; \n4)	Piccinin\, S
 .\; Sartorel\, A.\; Aquilanti\, G.\; Goldoni\, A.\; Bonchio\, M.\; Fabris\
 , S. PNAS 2013\, 110\, 4917-4922\n5)	Sartorel\, A.\; Bonchio\, M.\; Campag
 na\, S.\; Scandola\, F. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013\, 42\, 2262-2280.\n6)	Paolucc
 i\, F.\; Prato\, M.\; Bonchio\, M. et al. ACS Nano 2013\, 7\, 811\; Nature
  Chem. 2010\, 2\, 826-831.\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room\, BP Institute
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