Emulation of three-dimensional vision in plants in the red/far-red region by artificial photosynthesis

Abstract

Animals see the world through their eyes. Even though plants do not have organs of the visual system, plants are receptive to their visual environment. However, the exact mechanism of vision in plants has yet to be determined. For plants, vision is one of the important senses because they store energy from light. Light is not only the source of growth but also a vector of information for plants. Photosynthesis is one of the typical phenomena where light induces the response from plants. Photosynthesis is the process that coverts light energy into chemical energy and produces oxygen. In this study, we have emulated the three-dimensional vision in plants by artificial photosynthesis. Instead of using real plant cell, we have exploited the artificial photosynthetic properties of photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell. The silicon-based PEC cell sensitive to red/far-red region (600 - 850 nm) was used as a single-pixel sensor, and a mechanical scanner was used to simulate two-dimensional sensor array with a single-pixel sensor. We have successfully obtained the result by measuring photocurrents generated by photosynthetic water splitting.