Solar Fuels Laboratory

Profile

Prof. Joanna Kargul
e-mail: j.kargul@cent.uw.edu.pl
phone: +48 22 55 43760
room: 02.171/ 02.130
ORCID: 0000-0003-1410-1905
SCOPUS ID: 6506590384

The sun powers almost all life on earth via the fundamental process of photosynthesis. The natural photosystems (photosystems I and II) are capable of capturing light and converting solar energy into chemical bonds within reduced carbon compounds. These are large macromolecular membrane protein complexes that together form biological nanoscale solar energy converters operating at an internal quantum efficiency close to unity.

Solar energy conversion is one of the few renewable ways to produce clean energy to meet the increasing demands of modern civilization. In the era of global climate change, there is a strong need to understand photosynthetic processes and their regulatory basis, particularly in relation to solar fuel production in extreme environments.

Our research focuses on three main long-term objectives:

• to understand the mechanisms of photosynthetic energy conversion at the molecular level in the extremophilic photosynthetic apparatus, using model extremophiles such as the red microalga Cyanidioschyzon merolae and cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus,
• to dissect molecular mechanisms of photosynthetic adaptation under extreme conditions and fluctuating light,
• to construct truly ‘green’, viable, biohybrid solar-to-fuel nanodevices that mimic the most crucial steps of the early stages of photosynthesis to produce sustainable fuels, such as molecular hydrogen and carbon-based fuels.

As members of major European collaborative initiatives, e.g. the EuroSolarFuels, PolTur/GraphESol, Horizon Europe CL5/SUNGATE and Solar-driven chemistry SUNCOCAT consortia, we work on optimizing the construction and performance of biophotoelectrodes, which can be built into the heterojunction tandem devices to achieve efficient solar-to-fuel conversion.

Methods used in the Kargul lab include an array of chromatographic approaches (AEC, HIC, IMAC, SEC), biochemical techniques (SDS-PAGE, BN-PAGE, Western blotting, sucrose gradient fractionation etc.), molecular biology methods (RT-PCR, DNA cloning), spectroscopic methods (fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy), photoelectrochemistry methods (CV, EIS, photochronoamperometry), organic synthesis and bioinformatics. We also have close collaboration with top national and international experts in materials science, photovoltaics, AFM photophysics, and computational chemistry to characterize and optimize the electron and energy transfer processes within the constructed biomolecular artificial leaf devices.

Current international collaborations:

• SUNGATE consortium: https://sungate-eu.org/the-project/
• Solar-driven chemistry SUNCOCAT consortium: Kasim Ocakoglu (Tarsus University, Turkey), Philip Tinnefeld (TUM, Germany) and Christophe Léger (CNRS, France)
• Radek Kaňa (Centre Algatech, Czech Academy of Sciences, the Czech Republic)
• R. J. Dwayne Miller (University of Toronto, Canada)
• Massimo Trotta (CNR, Italy)
• Shin-ya Miyagishima (National Institute of Genetics, Japan)

Current national collaborations:

• Rafał Jurczakowski (Faculty of Chemistry, CNBCh, University of Warsaw)
• Renata Matlakowska (Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw)
• Mariusz Więckowski (Nencki Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences)

Leader

Head of Solar Fuels Laboratory at the Centre of New Technologies of the University of Warsaw. She obtained a PhD in Biological sciences in 1999 from the University of Warwick, UK. Postdoctoral research conducted in the group of James Barber at Imperial College London, UK led to several discoveries of novel molecular mechanisms of photosynthetic adaptation to changing environment (e.g. dissecting the molecular components of state transitions) and refining the crystallographic structure of the PSII oxygen evolving complex. Habilitation in 2009 from the University of Warsaw (UW). Since 2011 Associate Professor having established an independent research group at the UW. In 2011 Prof. Kargul established a node for solar fuels research in Poland and has led several projects on application of robust natural light-harvesting molecular nanomachines for construction of biohybrid solar cells and solar-to-fuel devices. She has extensive experience and success in leading several national and international initiatives (e.g. Founding Partner of ESF EuroSolarFuels and H2020 SUNRISE consortia; Member of Scientific Executive Board of SUNERGY large-scale R&I initiative) as well coordinator/work package leader of EU projects (e.g. consortia POLTUR/GraphESol, Solar-driven chemistry/SUNCOCAT and Horizon Europe CL5/SUNGATE) which have all been focused on natural and semi-artificial solar energy conversion systems. She serves as the International Ambassador of the British Biochemical Society and has served on several editorial and strategic executive boards, e.g. as member of the Scientific Advisory Board of European Society for Photobiology, Scientific Advisory Board of the European Materials Research Society, Senior Editor of the International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, member of the Grants Committee of the Biochemical Society (UK), expert of the NAWA programme of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, expert in NZ1 Panel of the National Science Centre, member of the Advisory Board of the European Green Deal, member of KIS4 Workgroup of Poland’s Ministry of Economic Development and Technology to name a few.

Prof. Kargul’s highly interdisciplinary research spans structural biology, biochemistry, and plant physiology with electrochemistry, biophysics and material science. In her current research she focuses on structural and mechanistic aspects of the function and adaptation of the natural photosynthetic apparatus in extremophilic biophotocatalysts. She and her group apply this fundamental knowledge for the rational construction of biomolecular solar-to-fuel devices for optimised solar conversion by smart interfacing the photoenzymes, CO2-reducing enzymes and molecular catalysts with various nanostructured electrode materials.

Team

Leader
Prof. Joanna Kargul

Postdocs
Miriam Izzo, PhD
Margot Jacquet, PhD
Gergely Nagy, PhD

PhD Students
B. Ozan Eskikaya, MSc
Marcin Kuliński, MSc
Francesca Marchetto, MSc

Students
Piotr Lorek

Alumni:
Julian David Janna Olmos, PhD
Philippe Becquet, MSc
Anita Jarzębińska, MSc
Grzegorz Bubak, PhD Eng
Gleb Andryianau, MSc Eng
Tomasz Kalinowski, MSc
Paulina Misiukiewicz, MSc
Julia Dreksler, MSc
Gaweł Bojanowski, MSc
Jacek Rymuszka, MSc
Marcin Kleibert, MSc
Jędrzej Machtyl, MSc
Szymon Piaszczyński, MSc
Rafał Stachura, MSc
Szymon Górnisiewicz, MSc
Justyna Kiełbasa, MSc
Małgorzata Kucia, MSc
Małgorzata Kiliszek, PhD
Patrycja Haniewicz, PhD
Aleksandra Zimnoch, MSc
Natalia Cibor, MSc
Aleksandra Okrasa, MSc
Alexia Bankowski, BA
Aspen Vassallo, BA
Sergio Santaeufemia, PhD

Selected projects

Selected publications

• Jacquet, M., Izzo, M., Wróbel, P., Strawski, M., Trotta, M., Jurczakowski, R., Kargul J
  Space-Confined Mediation of Electron Transfer for Efficient Biomolecular Solar Conversion.
  (2025) Mater. Horizons
  DOI: 10.1039/D4MH01266F
• Marchetto F., Santaeufemia S., Lebiedzińska-Arciszewska M., Śliwińska M.A., Pich M., Kurek E., Naziębło A., Strawski M., Solymosi D., Szklarczyk M., Bulska E., Szymański J., Wierzbicka M., Allahverdiyeva Y., Więckowski M.R., Kargul J.
  Dynamic adaptation of the extremophilic red microalga Cyanidioschyzon merolae to high nickel stress
  (2024) Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 207, art. no. 108365
  DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2024.108365
• Jacquet M., Osella S., Harputlu E., Pałys B., Kaczmarek M., Nawrocka E.K., Rajkiewicz A.A., Kalek M., Michałowski P.P., Trzaskowski B., Unlu C.G., Lisowski W., Pisarek M., Kazimierczuk K., Ocakoglu K., Wiȩckowska A., Kargul J.
  Diazonium-Based Covalent Molecular Wiring of Single-Layer Graphene Leads to Enhanced Unidirectional Photocurrent Generation through the p-doping Effect
  (2022) Chemistry of Materials, 34 (8), pp. 3744 – 3758
  DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c00088
• Kargul, J., Izzo, M., Jacquet, M.
  Artificial photosynthesis for production of solar fuels and chemicals.
  (2022) In: Green Chemistry Series No. 74, Chemical Valorization of Carbon Dioxide, ed. G. Stefanidis and A. Stankiewicz, pp. 254–285. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK. Print ISBN: 978-1-83916-407-1, EPUB eISBN: 978-1-83916-765-2, ISSN: 1757-7039.
  DOI: 10.1039/9781839167645-00254
• Izzo M., Jacquet M., Fujiwara T., Harputlu E., Mazur R., Wróbel P., Góral T., Gokhan Unlu C., Ocakoglu K., Miyagishima S., Kargul J.
  Development of a novel nanoarchitecture of the robust photosystem I from a volcanic microalga cyanidioschyzon merolae on single layer graphene for improved photocurrent generation
  (2021) International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22 (16), art. no. 8396
  DOI: 10.3390/ijms22168396
• Jacquet M., Izzo M., Osella S., Kozdra S., Michalowski P.P., Golowicz D., Kazimierczuk K., Gorzkowski M.T., Lewera A., Teodorczyk M., Trzaskowski B., Jurczakowski R., Gryko D.T., Kargul J.
  Development of a universal conductive platform for anchoring photo- And electroactive proteins using organometallic terpyridine molecular wires
  (2021) Nanoscale, 13 (21), pp. 9773 – 9787
  DOI: 10.1039/d0nr08870f
• Kiliszek M., Harputlu E., Szalkowski M., Kowalska D., Unlu C.G., Haniewicz P., Abram M., Wiwatowski K., Niedziółka-Jönsson J., MaćKowski S., Ocakoglu K., Kargul J.
  Orientation of photosystem i on graphene through cytochrome: C 553 leads to improvement in photocurrent generation
  (2018) Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 6 (38), pp. 18615 – 18626
  DOI: 10.1039/c8ta02420k
• Haniewicz P., Abram M., Nosek L., Kirkpatrick J., El-Mohsnawy E., Janna Olmos J.D., Kouřil R., Kargul J.M.
  Molecular mechanisms of photoadaptation of photosystem I supercomplex from an evolutionary cyanobacterial/algal intermediate
  (2018) Plant Physiology, 176 (2), pp. 1433 – 1451
  DOI: 10.1104/pp.17.01022
• Szalkowski M., Janna Olmos J.D., Buczyńska D., Maćkowski S., Kowalska D., Kargul J.
  Plasmon-induced absorption of blind chlorophylls in photosynthetic proteins assembled on silver nanowires
  (2017) Nanoscale, 9 (29), pp. 10475 – 10486
  DOI: 10.1039/c7nr03866f

Contact

Prof. Joanna Kargul
e-mail: j.kargul@cent.uw.edu.pl
phone: +48 22 55 43760
room: 02.171/ 02.130

Media

SUNRISE homepage

First Meeting of SUNRISE Stakeholders during EU Sustainable Energy Week

SUNRISE Poland Stakeholder Workshop

SUNRISE won the Horizon 2020 Grant

Solar Fuels Lab at the DOKO2017 event (Ochota Campus Open Day).

Polish scientists work on the construction of the biohybrid devices. This new technology will allow to
produce hydrogen fuel. Full article here.

Artificial leaf: photosynthesis improved by technology. Full article here.

Scientists from the University of Warsaw make artificial leaf devices. They work using solar energy
conversion for production of “fuel of the future”. Full article here.

What is artificial photosynthesis? – Prof. Joanna Kargul explains in this short clip.

SUNRISE film

Solar compounds form artificial leaves: companies and scientists mobilise to improve photosynthesis. Full article here. 

Podcast in the series “Hard Science Can Be Easy”. Interview of Karolina Głowacka with Joanna Kargul (in Polish only): Solar energy – Will our civilization reach the superpower of plants? 

Molecular mechanisms of photosynthesis in extreme environmental conditions

4 M€ grant to accelerate innovation on solar fuels and chemicals, and to support the transition toward a fossil-free EU economy

Interview with Professor Joanna Kargul (Polish only)

Artificial photosynthesis more efficient? The Poles have an idea for this | Science in Poland (Polish only)

https://nauka.tvp.pl/56125767/polska-technologia-wspomaga-sztuczna-fotosynteze

Educational game

The description of SFL Escape Room educational game (ENG)