Bio-inspired and bionic materials for enhanced photosynthesis

Project Information

BEEP

Grant agreement ID: 860125

DOI

10.3030/860125

Project closed

EC signature date 5 September 2019

Start date 1 January 2020

End date 31 December 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 2 531 960,64

EU contribution

€ 2 531 960,64

Coordinated by

THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BEEP (Bio-inspired and bionic materials for enhanced photosynthesis)

Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of our planet is about 12 000 times larger than the global human energy demand. However, despite huge efforts in the scientific community to harvest and efficiently exploit sunlight as a renewable and green energy source, efficient light energy harvesting remains one of the main challenges for humanity.
The scientists of this ITN have turned to the natural world for inspiration to tackle this issue. In millions of years of evolution, nature has indeed come up with ingenious solutions to build strong structures, harvest solar energy and produce iridescent colours. In the marine world, for instance, a number of marine phototrophs have evolved stunning light management strategies for efficient light harvesting and protection in their compact and highly pigmented spatial structures, and have adapted to operate over a range of habitats and different light regimes, fluctuating from high solar irradiance to shaded conditions.
Understanding light-management inspired by marine phototroph organisms presents a tremendous potential for the development of innovative green technologies and designs that await exploitation by the scientific community and the material producing industry.

By bringing together biologists, physicists, chemists and material engineers, BEEP aimed to explore how these organisms could inspire us to generate new, greener photonic materials and technologies for an optimised solar energy harvesting and storage.

BEEP main objectives were the following:
i) To unravel the fundamental strategies of light management in marine phototrophs including macroalgae, corals with symbiotic microalgae and bacteria, as well as sea-slugs with sequestered chloroplasts;
ii) To apply such knowledge for creating novel artificial and bionic photosynthetic systems.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work Package1: Project management:
At Cambridge University, Prof Silvia Vignolini and Floriana Misceo (respectively the ITN coordinator and the ITN manager) have been responsible for managing the project and ensuring the timely implementation of the action as agreed with the Commission.

Work Package 2: Recruitment
All the 9 ESR positions were filled with outstanding young scientists from Italy, Spain, France, Cuba ad China. We achieved a very well gender balanced team, with 4 female and 5 male early stage researchers.

Work Package 3: Research
BEEP research covered diverse topics, from the optical characterisations of the nanostructures of coloured seaweeds and diatom microalgae, to the physical characterization of the phothosynthetic processess in the marine phototrophs and the development of self-sustaining bio-photoreactors. A summary of BEEP's research results can be found in the Impact Section below.

Work Package 4: Training
The ESRs worked under the supervision of distinguished scientists, thereby receiving world-class training-by-research. BEEP ITN has implemented 4 training workshops and a week long summer school in Italy. The training included technology transfer and innovation, ethics, introduction to R&D in industry, preparation for job search, public outreach via exhibitions, and writing and presentation skills. The ESRs undertook secondments at some of the other research groups of the network and at the industry partners' premises, which exposed them to interdisciplinary research environments, fostered collaborative teamwork across research groups, and gave them first-hand experience of R&D in companies.

Work Package 5: Communication, dissemination, and exploitations.
The BEEP ITN created a website and is also present in social Media, with a Twitter (https://twitter.com/BEEP_MSCA2020) and YouTube account (https://www.youtube.com/@BEEP_MSCA). The students have regularly shared news related to the BEEP research on Twitter, partecipated to a number of conferences where they presented the BEEP work in the form of posters and talks. Moreover, 13 scientific papers have been published, which acknowledge the ITN funding, and many more are being prepared. The ESRs reached out to the general public during the Night of the Researchers in France and at the Festival della Scienza in Italy, one of the largest scientific outreach events in Europe, attracting thousands of visitors every year. Our students also enthusiastically produced a few outreach videos, available both on our BEEP YouTube Channel and our website and advertised through our Twitter account.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

BEEP has achieved a fundamental understanding of the strategies that marine photosynthetic and phototrophs organisms put in place to maximise the amount of solar energy they are able to absorb, store and convert.
Among these strategies, there is structural colour. Marine life is populated by a huge diversity of organisms with an incredible range of colour. The brightest colours in nature are often obtained by the interaction of light with ordered nanostructured materials through interference. Some marine macroalgae (red, green and brown seaweeds) display structural coloration but the biological significance of this phenomenon in these photosynthetic organisms is unknown. BEEP scientists contributed to fill the knowledge gap in this area by showing that structural colour in the the red alga Chondrus crispus plays an important role as a photoprotective mechanism in synergy with the other pigments present. In particular, we have demonstrated that the blue iridescent colour on the tips of its fronds attenuates the more energetic light while simultaneously favouring green and red light harvesting through the external antennae which possess an intensity-dependent photoprotection mechanism. These insights into the relationship between structural colour and photosynthetic light management further our understanding of the mechanisms involved .
BEEP scientist have also studied the photonic and structural properties of other algae species and have been able to characterize stunning cellular structures never described before, broadening the knowledge of the scientific community studying light matter interaction in living systems. Moreover BEEP scientists have developed iridescent bacteria biofilms and converted them in photonic pigments for materials applications. These promising results might lead to the development of green and sustainable alternatives to the conventional paints and toxic dyes we use today.

BEEP logo in black background, we also have it in white background