Science Daily  April 25, 2019
A team of researchers in the US (Arizona State University, University of New Mexico) reports significant progress in optimizing systems that mimic the first stage of photosynthesis. In previous the team demonstrated the utility of DNA to serve as a programmable template for aggregating dyes. To build upon these findings, they will use the photonic principles that underlie natural light harvesting complexes to construct programmable structures based on DNA self-assembly, which provides the flexible platform necessary for the design and development of complex molecular photonic systems. Using DNA architectures as a template, the researchers were able to aggregate dye molecules in structures that captured and transferred energy over tens of nanometers with an efficiency loss of <1% per nanometer. The potential outcomes of this research could reveal new ways of capturing energy and transferring it over longer distances without net loss…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Double-stranded DNA as a template to guide self-assembly of cyanine dye forming strongly-coupled dye aggregates. These DNA-templated dye aggregates serve as “exciton wires” to facilitate directional, efficient energy transfer over distances up to 32 nm. Credit: Neal Woodbury and Hao Yan