It may be one of the best known and most studied processes in the world, yet photosynthesis still has well-kept secrets.

According to research published in the journal Nature, the process of photosynthesis could lead to new ways of producing energy.

An international team of physicists, chemists and biologists, led by the University of Cambridge, has studied the early stages of photosynthesis and discovered new ways to extract energy from this process, a finding that could lead to new ways of producing clean fuels and renewables. energy sources.

Using ultrafast spectroscopic techniques to study the movement of energy, the researchers found that chemicals that can extract electrons from the molecular structures responsible for photosynthesis do so in the early stages, rather than much later as previously believed. previously.

The researchers say that being able to extract cargo earlier in the photosynthesis process could make the process more efficient at manipulating photosynthetic pathways to produce clean fuels from the Sun. In addition, the ability to regulate photosynthesis could mean that crops could become better able to tolerate intense sunlight.

“Since the electrons from photosynthesis are dispersed throughout the system, that means we can access them,” says Laura Way, one of the study’s lead authors, from the University’s Department of Biochemistry, who now works at the University of Turku, Finland. “The fact that we didn’t know this pathway existed is exciting, because we could harness it to extract more energy for renewables,” he adds.