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Photosynthesis battery

25.01.2023

Plants are often considered sources of food, oxygen, and decoration, but not a source of electricity. However, scientists have found that by using the natural transport of electrons in plant cells, it is possible to produce electricity as part of a biological ecological solar cell.

Scientists have used a succulent plant for the first time to create a living "bio-solar battery" powered by photosynthesis.

Electrons are naturally transported as part of biological processes in all living cells, from microbes and fungi to plants and animals. Through the introduction of electrodes, the cells can be used to generate electricity that can be used outside. Previous research has created fuel cells using bacteria, but they need a constant supply of food. This new approach uses photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy, to generate electricity.

During this process, light triggers the flow of electrons from the water, which leads to the formation of oxygen and sugar. This means that living photosynthetic cells are constantly producing a stream of electrons that can be pulled off like photographs and used to power an external circuit, like a solar cell.

Some plants, such as succulents in dry environments, have thick cuticles that hold water and nutrients in the leaves. Janov Schlosberg, Gadi Schuster and Adir wanted to test for the first time whether photosynthesis in succulents could create energy for living solar cells by using their internal water and nutrients as an electrochemical cell electrolyte solution.

Researchers have created a living solar array using the succulent Corpuscularia lehmannii, also known as the "ice plant". They inserted an iron anode and a platinum cathode into one of the plant's leaves and found that its voltage was 0,28 volts. When connected to a circuit, it produced a photocurrent density of up to 20 μA/cm 2 under the action of light and could continue to produce current for more than a day. Although these numbers are less than those of a traditional alkaline battery, they only display one flap.

Previous research on similar organic devices suggests that daisy-chaining multiple leaflets can increase voltage. The team specifically designed the living solar cell so that the protons in the internal leaf solution could combine to form hydrogen gas at the cathode, and that hydrogen could be harvested and used for other purposes.

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