Photosynthesis At 1000 ppm CO in measuring air, both the C3 and C4 plants had similar leaf photosynthetic rates around 60 μmol CO·m·s indicating the suppression of photorespiration in C3 plants. There are three main factors affecting photosynthesis and several corollary factors. The three main are: Total photosynthesis is limited by a range of environmental factors. These include the amount of light available, the amount of leaf area a plant has to capture light (shading by other plants is a major limitation of photosynthesis), rate at which carbon dioxide can be supplied to the chloroplasts to support photosynthesis, the availability of
Artificial photosynthesis is usually a consequence in many of the tested systems after a period of exposure to light, bio-inspired photoprotectants have been tested, such as carotenoids (which are used in photosynthesis as natural protectants). Photoelectrochemical cells are a heterogeneous system that use light to produce either electricity or hydrogen. The vast majority of photoelectrochemical cells use semiconductors as catalysts. There have been attempts to use synthetic manganese complex-impregnated Nafion as a working electrode, but it has been since shown that the catalytically active species is actually the broken-down complex. A promising, emerging type of solar cell is the dye-sensitized solar cell.