Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis, Key to Life on Earth, Starts with a Single Photon

June 16, 2023

Illustration of photon activating photosynthesis

Illustration: Jenny Nuss/Berkeley Lab

Using a complex cast of metal-studded pigments, proteins, enzymes, and co-enzymes, photosynthetic organisms can convert the energy in light into the chemical energy for life. And now, thanks to a study published in ...

The future of biochemistry

January 12, 2018

ACS Biochemistry Issue CoverThe ACS January 2018 Special Biochemistry Issue has included College of Chemistry professors Ming Hammond, Evan Miller, and David Savage among the 44 early career scientists identified as representing the future of biochemistry. These scientists are noted by the publication for tackling problems of biological relevance.

For more detailed information read the ACS...

In Memoriam: Kenneth Sauer

November 8, 2022

Dean Douglas Clark announed today the recent passing on November 6th of our colleague and friend, Kenneth (Ken) Sauer, professor emeritus of chemistry. He was 91 years old.

Kenneth Sauer Ken was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1931. He completed his A.B. degree in chemistry at Oberlin College in 1953. He then moved to Cambridge, MA to study gas-phase photochemistry with George...

This Hydrogen Fuel Machine Could Be the Ultimate Guide to Self-Improvement

April 5, 2021

Guosong Zeng, Francesca Toma, Berkeley Lab

Guosong Zeng, a postdoctoral scholar, and Francesca Toma, a staff scientist, both in Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division, test an artificial photosynthesis device made of gallium nitride. Toma and Zeng discovered that the device, rather than degrading over time, improves with use. (Credit: Thor...

Birgitta Whaley: Finding the quantum in biology

October 28, 2020

Birgitta Whaley, Professor of Chemistry and co-director of the Berkeley Quantum Information and Computation Center, presented this year's endowed G.N. Lewis Lecture at the College of Chemistry. Professor Whaley currently serves on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. She is a foremost expert in the fields of quantum information, quantum physics, molecular quantum mechanics, and quantum biology.

This lecture is given annually in honor of Gilbert Newton Lewis who was the...

Why you should stay single: The scientific benefits of using a single photon

October 8, 2020

Hamburger stack

Like many other labs, Graham Fleming’s group is focusing on interdisciplinary techniques to make new discoveries and explore the mysteries of fundamental processes. Chemistry graduate student Kaydren Orcutt highlights how researchers can combine physics and biology, generating single photons in a bid to unentangle the mysteries of photosynthesis.

The scientists in...

College faculty and alumni contribute to new DOE 60$M Solar Fuel Research

July 31, 2020

New partnership between DOE national labs and universities builds on JCAP’s advances in artificial photosynthesis, renewable fuels

New solar material test

Scientists at JCAP create new materials by spraying combinations of elements onto thin plates. (Image courtesy of Caltech)

The quest for renewable fuels harvested from the sun...

The Secret to Renewable Solar Fuels Is an Off-and-On Again Relationship

July 21, 2020

analysis of copper ore

From alum Walter Drisdell's lab at LBL: new research published in the journal ACS Catalysis exams experiments performed vis X-ray spectroscopy on working solar fuel generator prototypes to demonstrate that catalysts made from copper oxide are superior to purely metallic-origin catalysts when it comes to producing ethylene, a two-carbon gas with a huge range of industrial applications – even after there are no detectable oxygen atoms left in the catalyst.

Meet our faculty: Naomi Ginsberg

May 21, 2020

Naomi Ginsberg

Naomi Ginsberg, professor of chemistry and physics at UC Berkeley, credits her love of learning as the driving force behind her unusual academic journey. In her first year of college, she studied engineering because it was, as she explains it, “technical, but also creative.” However, a summer research internship studying magnetic resonance—a backbone of modern medical imaging— opened her eyes to creative problem solving in basic science.

Blue diode illustrates limitations, promise of perovskite semiconductors

January 24, 2020

Halide perovskite crystal that emits blue light. Courtesy Peidong Yang.

University of California, Berkeley, scientists have created a blue light-emitting diode (LED) from a trendy new semiconductor material, halide perovskite, overcoming a major barrier to employing these cheap, easy-to-make materials in electronic devices.