Learning from nature to apply its design principle of the excitation schemes and solar to chemical energy conversion in artificial photosynthetic architectures requires quantum- and atomic-scale understanding of phenomena in the system and across interfaces.  By developing and applying time-resolved multidimensional spectroscopy methods, we tackle key science gaps and opportunities to improve the performance of artificial systems.

The Solar Photochemistry programs focus on the implementation of key design principles of the light harvesting, energy transfer, charge transport, and catalytic functions in the artificial photosystems. This is carried out by the synthesis of hierarchical inorganic or hybrid structures for creating artificial components and complete photosystems using the tools of nanoscience and advanced spectroscopy, including at national user facilities (TMF, SSRL) and by detailed multiscale modeling of full systems to understand how the nanoscale and macroscale are connected in space and time.