How can chemical reactions be triggered by light, following the example of photosynthesis in nature? This process is still poorly understood. However, researchers have now uncovered a major piece of ...

The first step in many light-driven chemical reactions, like the ones that power photosynthesis and human vision, is a shift in the arrangement of a molecule's electrons as they absorb the light's ...

For the past two centuries, humans have relied on fossil fuels for concentrated energy; hundreds of millions of years of photosynthesis packed into a convenient, energy-dense substance. But that ...

Princeton scientists have discovered a way of stimulating organic molecules that they expect will prompt researchers to create materials from new kinds of chemical reactions. The method of catalysis, ...

Plants take advantage of quantum mechanics to harvest sunlight with near-perfect efficiency—though only roughly 2 percent of that capture sunlight ultimately gets stored as chemical energy. Now ...

LMU chemists use high-precision quantum chemistry to study key elements of super-efficient energy transfer in an important element of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the motor of all life on Earth.

Plants ignore the most energy-rich part of sunlight because stability matters more than efficiency, according to a new model of photosynthesis. From large trees in the Amazon jungle to houseplants to ...