Stabilization of photosynthetic materials.

Isolated photosynthetic materials have a relatively short active lifetime that limits their effective use. To circumvent this limitation, various immobilization techniques have been designed to improve their stability both under storage and working conditions. The immobilization methods are identified either as chemical or physical methods. In this chapter, two immobilization methods frequently used are described; a physical method based on the entrapment of photosynthetic materials in photo-crosslinkable poly(vinylalcohol) polymer bearing styrylpyridinium groups (PVA-SbQ) and a chemical method where the photosynthetic materials are immobilized by co-reticulation in an albumin-glutaraldehyde crosslinked matrix (BSA-Glu). Different immobilization procedures in relation with various photosynthetic materials are mentioned.