Infrared light also makes plants photosynthesize

According to a research team led by Professor sanshishou of Kyoto University in Japan, although the light energy absorbed by photosynthesis of plants is different, its efficiency is the same The discovery made it possible to produce low-power food The research results were published in the online edition of the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences Photosynthesis can release oxygen and sugar, which is "the maintenance device of life on earth" Photosynthetic organisms can use light energy to decompose water into oxygen, but the decomposition of water requires a higher voltage, but it is difficult to achieve a high voltage with a standard potential of more than 1.1V in organisms Therefore, the electrolysis of water has become the biggest mystery in the photosynthesis system The photosynthesis system uses chlorophyll to absorb light energy to generate electricity, which is the same principle as solar cells Ordinary photosynthetic organisms contain chlorophyll a that can absorb visible light, but the team previously found that the only marine cyanobacteria that can use near-infrared light for photosynthesis can also use chlorophyll d to generate electricity The team compared chlorophyll d with chlorophyll a and found that the voltage obtained by chlorophyll d was low, but it could produce the redox potential needed for water decomposition In addition, although the chlorophyll species are different, its potential remains unchanged The results show that no matter whether the chlorophyll species used in photosynthesis are the same, a certain oxidation potential can be obtained for water decomposition reaction, which means that the water decomposition reaction of photosynthesis is the same principle This study shows that, in addition to the visible sunlight, the invisible low-energy infrared ray can also make the plants carry out photosynthesis with the same efficiency In the future, the team will conduct experiments on longer wavelength and weaker energy infrared rays to determine the extent to which organisms can carry out photosynthesis.