PSI accepts electrons from plastocyanin and transfers them either to NADPH (noncyclic electron transport) or back to cytochrome bf (cyclic electron transport):
                         plastocyanin → P700 → P700 → FNR → NADPH
                            bf        ←    phylloquinone
PSI, like PSII, is a complex, highly organized transmembrane structure that contains antenna chlorophylls, a reaction center (P700), phylloquinone, and a number of iron-sulfur proteins that serve as intermediate redox carriers.
The light-harvesting system of PSI uses multiple copies of the same transmembrane proteins used by PSII. The energy of absorbed light (in the form of delocalized, high-energy electrons) is funneled into the reaction center, where it excites special chlorophyll molecules (P700, with maximum light absorption at 700 nm) to a higher energy level. The process occurs with astonishingly high efficiency.
Electrons are removed from excited chlorophyll molecules and transferred through a series of intermediate carriers to ferredoxin, a water-soluble electron carrier. As in PSII, this is a solid-state process that operates with 100% efficiency.
There are two different pathways of electron transport in PSI. In noncyclic electron transport, ferredoxin carries the electron to the enzyme ferredoxin  reductase (FNR) that reduces  to NADPH. In cyclic electron transport, electrons from ferredoxin are transferred (via plastoquinol) to a proton pump, cytochrome bf. They are then returned (via plastocyanin) to P700. NADPH and ATP are used to synthesize organic molecules from . The ratio of NADPH to ATP production can be adjusted by adjusting the balance between cyclic and noncyclic electron transport.
It is noteworthy that PSI closely resembles photosynthetic structures found in green sulfur bacteria, just as PSII resembles structures found in purple bacteria.