Harvesting Electricity Directly from plants?

Researchers from the Universities of Georgia turned their heads towards the inspiration of nature. They are now developing a new technology in ways to generate electricity from plants. Plants are the most assured source for clean energy. Most of them operate at nearly 100 percent efficiency, providing the plant equal amount of electrons from every photons captured from the sun. If converting even a portion of this to electricity would greatly over power every solar panels being made with only 12-17 percent efficiency.

During the process of photosynthesis, plants convert the sunlight captured into water atoms that are split to hydrogen and oxygen which then produces electrons. The plants use these electrons to create natural sugars for in most part uses them much like food to advance towards reproduction and growth.

"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, who is also a member of UGA's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.

In the near future, this technology can well be used in remote sensors or even portable electronics that require fewer power consumption.

"We have discovered something very promising here, and it is certainly worth exploring further," he said. "The electrical output we see now is modest, but only about 30 years ago, hydrogen fuel cells were in their infancy, and now they can power cars, buses and even buildings."

Ramaraja Ramasamy, right, and Yogeswaran Umasankar work together to capture energy created during photosynthesis. Ramasamy is an assistant professor in the UGA College of Engineering and Umasankar is postdoctoral research associate working in his lab. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Georgia)