Molecular heaters: a green route to boosting crop yields?
Food production and food security are fast becoming some of the most pressing issues of the 21st century. We are developing environmentally responsible molecular heaters to help boost crop growth and expand geographic areas capable of supporting growth. Sinapic diacid (SDA) is such a molecule, that can act as a light-to-heat agent, converting solar energy into heat delivered to the plant. We have characterised the photophysical properties of SDA extensively, using a combination of steady-state and ultrafast laser spectroscopy techniques complemented with high-level computational studies, and demonstrated both its resilience to prolonged solar irradiation and light-to-heat capabilities. The results we present here illustrate the untapped potential of molecular heaters such as SDA to boost plant yields in existing growing regions and to expand growth into regions hitherto considered too cold for crop growth.
Authors
- Matthieu M. Mention (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2309-9870)
- Michael N. R. Ashfold (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5762-7048)
- Wybren Jan Buma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1265-8016)
- Jimmy Alarcan
- Teun Munnik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4919-4913)
- Vasilios G. Stavros (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6828-958X)
- Florent Allais (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4132-6210)
- Natércia d. N. Rodrigues (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6225-2487)
- Temitope T. Abiola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3723-4962)
- Josene M. Toldo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8969-6635)
- Christopher Groves (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5873-1119)
- Mario Barbatti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9336-6607)
- Simon E. Greenough
- Xandra Schrama
- Jack M. Woolley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3893-3880)
- Keara A. Franklin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1859-640X)
- Benjamin Rioux (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4954-1380)
- Albert Braeuning (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3810-027X)
- M. Borja (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2892-3644)
- Mariana do Casel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4320-6055)
Institutions
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR)
- École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Institut Universitaire de France (FR)
- Aix-Marseille Université (FR)
- AgroParisTech (FR)
- Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (DE)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- University of Warwick (GB)
- Institut de Chimie Radicalaire (FR)
- Laboratoire de Chimie (FR)
- Accenture (Spain) (ES)
- HFML-FELIX (NL)
- Agro-Biotechnologies Industrielles
- Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (NL)
- Universidade de Vigo (ES)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1039/d4cp04803b
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Catalytic Processes in Materials Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.04
Funders
- University of Warwick
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia