Swedish researchers create a rose “bionics” can store solar energy! – Eco News .com

Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden just ask electronics in the vascular system of real plants for the first time. “Our work opens the field to new technologies and tools based on the fusion of organic electronic components in any plant,” said the authors of the study.

” Preludes to electrochemical fuel cells “

According to their research, published in the journal Science Advance , the researchers created a polymer soluble in water, called “PEDOT-S” and given the electronic properties and pink. With this innovation, Swedish experts were then able to successfully create an analog transistor in a flower, or change the color of another plant through its own energy.

“Conductors son and electrodes in stems, roots and leaves of plants are the preludes to electrochemical fuel cells to charge transport and storage systems that convert the sugar produced by the electricity photosynthesis in vivo, “explains Professor Magnus Beggren in these soberly work entitled Electronic plants.

Green Aerials and capture solar energy

“We can place sensors in plants and using energy that forms in chlorophyll, green antennae or manufacture of new materials, “then explained on the website of the University of Linköping, Magnus Beggren, who led the research.

Promising results thus will provide a new role for plants in the capture of solar energy and environmental protection. How ? This would create a specialized cell within the plant that would be able to convert solar energy into chemical energy which would then be easy to convert into electric energy.

Pink which change color at the touch of an electrical signal

The researchers used a polymer called PEDOT-S: H, which is absorbed by the circulatory system (xylem) of the plant. Inside the vessel, the polymer forms a very thin conductive layer of 10 cm in length. The polymer is there then pass the water and nutrients that the vascular system propagates within the plant.

When the polymer is transferred together with the nano-cellulose to the leaves of the plant, it Get 3D structures spongy form filled by the polymer. Electrochemical cells are thus generated. By applying a mini-voltage, leaf color can be affected.

But while waiting to develop this “flower power” (flower power) and make the roses “bionic” genuine energy sensors, these plants are already today cyborg capable of changing color at the touch of an electric signal.

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