Molecular assemblies for solar energy conversion - Biomimetic approach

Excitation energy migration followed by electron transfer forms the main components of natural photosynthesis. An understanding of these aspects is essential to reenact the primary processes in laboratory under conditions that are precisely repeatable. Here we describe the state of understanding of the natural process and several model systems designed to harvest solar energy and conversion to useful form of chemical energy. The molecular assemblies constituting the model systems offer a great advantage in terms of better comprehension of the mechanistic aspects and yield valuable information on the design of molecular photonic devices.