Scientists have created plants that can glow in the dark, and even charge from an LED
A research team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology managed to create a plant that can not only emit light, but also be charged with an LED. All this became possible thanks to nanoparticles specially built into the leaves. It is about this unusual invention that will be discussed in this material.
Modern bioengineering in action
Progress does not stand still, and now engineers with the help of modern biotechnology are able to create amazing things. For example, scientists can create an absolutely environmentally friendly light source that accumulates energy during daylight hours, and emits light like night lamps in the dark.
In their next scientific work, engineers from MIT demonstrated a new plant that can emit light and store electricity.
All this became possible due to the fact that various types of nanoparticles were added to plants. Thus, in the first iteration of modified plants, nanoparticles containing luciferase and luciferin were used. These elements are responsible for the completely natural luminescence of ordinary fireflies.
Thus, using these elements, the engineers obtained watercress plants that were able to emit dim light for a couple of hours. Moreover, its intensity was 1000 times less than that required for normal reading.
Continuing the experiments, the scientists decided not only to increase the glow time, but also to significantly increase its brightness. So the engineers decided to introduce a "light capacitor" into the plant, as it was decided to use a phosphor.
This material is capable of absorbing both the visible and ultraviolet spectrum of light, and then slowly emitting it in the form of a phosphorescent glow.
So, as a phosphor, it was decided to use strontium aluminate, which was previously coated with silica (to protect the plant).
The scientists decided to place particles of only a couple of hundred nanometers in size into the plant through the so-called stomata (pores located on the surface of the leaves).
Thus, the nanoparticles safely entered the plant and accumulated in the spongy layer, forming a thin film.
So this film was able to absorb the flux of photons from both sunlight and an LED. The experiment showed that after only 10 seconds of exposure to the blue LED, the plants were able to emit light for an hour.
In this case, the brightest glow was recorded in the first five minutes, and then the light gradually decreased. At the same time, as it turned out, the plants can be continuously recharged for at least a couple of weeks.
The scientists shared the results of the work done on the pages of the journal Science Advances.
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