Energetic Models of Artificial Chlorosome Light Harvesting Systems

It is well known that light harvesting in photosynthesis is a highly efficient process that functions under a wide range of light conditions. This is accomplished through varying chromophore composition and system size. Computational models have been used for years to predict the behavior of natural systems, but the complicated protein environment has made them difficult to analyze. Synthetic light harvesting complexes, known as polymer chlorosome nanocomposites (PCN), consist of a large array of diverse chlorophyll chromophores. PCN look and function like native cholorosomes but with several advantages, most importantly, their composition can be systematically varied. In this work, we discuss how the properties of known chemical structures, determined through Ab Initio computational chemistry methods, can be used to simulate the time evolution of corresponding PCN.