The design of artificial photosynthetic systems by taking structural design inspirations from biological photosynthetic systems is a new pathway. Biological organisms relying on sunlight for survival have evolved for several millions of years to optimize their light harvesting, manipulation, or conversion efficiency. For many of these organisms, this evolution process involves the building of complex nano-scaled biological structures with special optical properties. One of the most noteworthy examples of optical bio-nanostructures is the complex nanoporous shell (frustule) produced by diatoms. We studied one typical species of diatoms <i>Coscinodiscus sp. FDTD optical simulations were conducted and we found that </i>the incoming light source (plane wave) undergoes strong scattering processes in the nanostructured frustule and subsequently gives rise to the light-trapping effect to enhance the photosynthesis efficiency of the natural diatoms. Based on the FDTD simulations, a simplied but effective structural model was constructed. We used nanoimprint technique to fabricate artificial diatoms of TiO2 on a large scale. For CO2 photoreduction, The artificial diatoms evolved CO and CH4 as the main products in gas phase without sacrificial agents. The artificial diatoms have enhanced CO2 photoreduction activities than the corresponding powder couterparts, which should be attributed to the enhanced light harvesting and mass transfer within the 3D architectures. COMSOL simulations were conducted to investigate the relationships between the 3D architectures and liquid velocity/gas diffusion. The research could provide new inspirations for the design of new artificial photosynthetic systems.

Biomimetic construction of artificial diatoms with multiscale architectures for CO<sub>2</sub> photo-reduction

256th National Meeting (2018)

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Biomimetic construction of artificial diatoms with multiscale architectures for CO2 photo-reduction

Biomimetic construction of artificial diatoms with multiscale architectures for CO₂ photo-reduction