The HReport: In The Journals
Green: Harvesting…electrons? Yes. In an electrifying first, Stanford scientists have tapped the power of plants, as researchers looking for alternate sources of electricity experimented with plugging in to algae cells and succeeded in harnessing a tiny electric current. They found it at the very source of energy production – photosynthesis, a plant’s process of converting sunlight to chemical energy. This may be the first step toward generating high efficiency bioelectricity that doesn’t give off carbon dioxide as a byproduct. In the experiment the researchers intercepted the electrons (using gold electrodes) just after they had been excited by the light and were at their highest energy levels. “We believe we are the first to extract electrons out of living plant cells. This is potentially one of the cleanest energy sources for energy generation,” said WonHyoung Ryu, lead author of the paper published in Nano Letters. Read More…
