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Indoor flower - mini power plant

02.01.2019

Electric currents in plants have been talked about for a long time. Electrical phenomena in living cells arise due to the rearrangement of positive and negative ions on both sides of the cell membrane, and this occurs in both animal cells and plant cells. Electrical reactions occur in plants in response to a variety of stimuli, from mechanical to temperature. Is it possible to somehow bring plant electricity out?

Fabian Meder, Barbara Mazzolai and their colleagues at the Italian research center IIT drew attention to the fact that plant leaves look like triboelectric nanogenerators. These devices generate electricity through friction or contact between polymer films. Films with different properties in nanogenerators are arranged like in a layer cake. The leaf of the plant looks the same. The upper and lower parts of the leaf are covered with a cuticle - a layer of a waxy substance that protects the plant from ultraviolet radiation and limits the evaporation of moisture. The cuticle almost does not conduct current, and the tissues inside the leaf are saturated with ions and, on the contrary, can serve as something like the thinnest conductors.

The researchers were able to test the hypothesis by connecting a thin gold-plated wire to the stem of a plucked rhododendron leaf. After the sheet was touched with a strip of polymeric material, voltage appeared at the ends of the wires. The wires and strips of polymer were then attached directly to the plant, and the wind was created using a fan. The effect was the same as with a single leaf, and the energy from one plant was enough to make the LED lamp flicker.

In the future, experts intend to create a technology that will allow collecting energy from street trees and shrubs. In addition, the researchers want to find out whether currents within plants serve to communicate between leaves and other organs. If so, trees could well be used as natural sensors that transmit information, for example, about the level of humidity.

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