University of Georgia, USA, is looking into how to use plants to generate electricity. Ramaraja Ramasamy, assistant professor in the College of Engineering, described the process in the Journal of Energy and Environmental Science that after billions of years of evolution, living plants have improved the sunlight conversion efficiency to nearly 100%. Comparing to current solar technologies of merely achieving 12% to 17% of conversion rate.
During photosynthesis, plants use sunlight to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, which produces electrons. These newly freed electrons go on to help create sugars that plants use much like food to support growth and reproduction.
"We have developed a way to interrupt photosynthesis so that we can
capture the electrons before the plant uses them to make these sugars,"
said Ramasamy.
Ramasamy's technology involves separating out structures in the plant
cell called thylakoids, which are responsible for capturing and storing
energy from sunlight. Researchers manipulate the proteins contained in
the thylakoids, interrupting the pathway along which electrons flow.
These modified thylakoids are then immobilized on a specially
designed backing of carbon nanotubes, cylindrical structures that are
nearly 50,000 times finer than a human hair. The nanotubes act as an
electrical conductor, capturing the electrons from the plant material
and sending them along a wire.
In small-scale experiments, this approach resulted in electrical
current levels that are two orders of magnitude larger than those
previously reported in similar systems.
Ramasamy cautions that much more work must be done before this
technology reaches commercialization, but he and his collaborators are
already working to improve the stability and output of their device.
"In the near term, this technology might best be used for remote
sensors or other portable electronic equipment that requires less power
to run," he said. "If we are able to leverage technologies like genetic
engineering to enhance stability of the plant photosynthetic
machineries, I'm very hopeful that this technology will be competitive
to traditional solar panels in the future."
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