Most handheld electronic devices today require batteries, such as mobile phones and laptops…
 |
(Image: NLĐ) |
Today, consumers are concerned about running out of battery power while away from home, which means that all communication connections will be interrupted. This results in lost time and money, but the greatest loss is business opportunities. To address this issue, scientists at MIT in the United States have come up with a solution involving spinach.
Biomedical engineer Shuguang Zhang and his colleagues have harnessed the natural capabilities of plants to generate electricity from sunlight through photosynthesis. Mr. Zhang explains: “All types of plants, big or small, have the ability to use this system to convert photons into electrical energy.”
The process of synthesizing sunlight by plants has shown that this energy process is partially powered by a protein complex known as Photosystem I (PSI). When PSI converts sunlight into energy for plant growth, it is actually producing a tiny, measurable amount of electrical energy.
The researchers have created a type of spinach sandwich—a protein complex extracted from spinach cells sandwiched between layers of transparent conductive materials—by constructing a miniature power plant no thicker than a human hair.
Spinach was chosen because it is inexpensive and readily available. After being cleaned, the PSI protein complex is extracted from the cells. With a method that ensures the protein remains stable in its natural form, these spinach batteries can provide power for up to three weeks. However, the Bina battery will not completely replace traditional batteries, as continuous cloudy weather would prevent sunlight from generating energy for the batteries.
