Source · source:blankenship-2011 · paper

Comparing photosynthetic and photovoltaic efficiencies and recognizing the potential for improvement

R. E. Blankenship, et al.2011Science 332, 805–809doi:10.1126/science.1200165

Atlas use: this paper is cited as evidence by 7 claims and 1 named pathway. Bibliographic record verified against Crossref on 2026-09-19.

Crossref title: Comparing Photosynthetic and Photovoltaic Efficiencies and Recognizing the Potential for Improvement

Read in full (open eScholarship copy, loop-3 pass 39). 'A theoretical limit of ~12% for the efficiency of photosynthetic glucose production from water (based on free energy) can be calculated by considering the chlorophyll band-edge absorption and the two-photosystem structure of oxygenic photosynthesis'; taking into account the known losses in light harvesting, overpotentials and respiration, the maximum is reduced to 4.6 % (C3) and 6.0 % (C4) plants (their ref. 7, Zhu, Long & Ort); short-term (rapid-growth phase) efficiencies measured during the growing season reach 3.5 % (C3) and 4.3 % (C4), perhaps 5–7 % for microalgae in bubbled bioreactors; most crops fall far below these on an annual basis. A perspective summarising others' measurements: the 3.5 / 4.3 % are reported, not this paper's own data.

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Atlas context

Derived from the citing claims only: the families, matrix cells and routes those claims take part in.

family: Biological (C.30)

D = disequilibrium row · C = coupling family column. A cell reads the state of the atlas for that pair.

D.11 × C.30 · Incident radiation flux × Biological

Photosynthesiscomposition evidence recorded

Claims citing this source · 7

Incident radiation flux—drives→Photosynthesisestablishedrecord

claim:photosynthesis-drives

Photosynthesis—produces→Reduced carbon compoundsestablishedrecord

claim:photosynthesis-produces-carbon

Reduced carbon compounds—converts into→Chemical fuelestablishedrecord

claim:reduced-carbon-converts-fuel

Photosynthesis—member of→Biologicalestablishedrecord

claim:photosynthesis-member

Photosynthesis—bounded by→Landsberg limitestablishedrecord

claim:photosynthesis-bounded-landsberg

Photosynthesis—bounded by→Photosynthetic glucose-production limitestablishedrecord

claim:photosynthesis-bounded-glucose-limit

Photosynthesis—governed by→Physiology-limited photosynthetic maximumestablishedrecord

claim:photosynthesis-benchmarked-physiological-maximum

Named pathways citing this source · 1

Photosynthesiscommercial

Cite this source

Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). source source:blankenship-2011: Comparing photosynthetic and photovoltaic efficiencies and recognizing the potential for improvement. Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/source/blankenship-2011

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