Science

MIT envisions DIY solar cells made from grass clippings

Schematic of MIT's Photosystem-I solar energy harvesting chip
Schematic of MIT's Photosystem-I solar energy harvesting chip

Research scientist Andreas Mershin has a dream to bring inexpensive solar power to the masses, especially those in developing countries. After years of research, he and his team at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, along with University of Tennessee biochemist Barry Bruce, have worked out a process that extracts functional photosynthetic molecules from common yard and agricultural waste. If all goes well, in a few years it should be possible to gather up a pile of grass clippings, mix it with a blend of cheap chemicals, paint it on your roof and begin producing electricity. Talk about redefining green power plants!

"Leaves and plants are nature's solar panels. The first step in photosynthesis is to change sunlight into a little bit of electricity that then gets converted into the processes of life," Mershin explained. "If we manage to somehow hijack the molecules that are responsible for photosynthesis in plants and other photosynthetic organisms, and use them to generate electricity for our own needs, this would represent a fantastic and disruptive new step in the way that we generate solar power or electricity in general."

Taking a cue from how light is harvested by densely-packed trees, Mershin and his team have fabricated tiny forests of zinc oxide nanowires interspersed with titanium dioxide "sponges." When this mini array is then coated with the photosynthetic molecule extract, the electricity produced can actually be harvested to do work. The major drawback currently is the low 0.1% efficiency of the experimental cells, but the ongoing flurry of research into biophotovoltaics is expected to boost that to commercially viable levels (at least 1-2%) fairly soon.

One of the team's biggest hurdles was figuring out how to keep the light-gathering molecules functional outside the cellular environment. Eventually, they managed to stabilize the chlorophyll-rich plant extract, also known as Photosystem I, with specially designed surfactant peptides, but then had to contend with the fact that some of its components are susceptible to damage by UV light. Luckily, both zinc oxide and titanium dioxide absorb UV and so afford protection as well as scaffolding for the delicate light-harvesting mixture.

The team's findings are detailed in the paper Self-assembled photosystem-I biophotovoltaics on nanostructured TiO2 and ZnO which was recently published in Nature.

In the video below, Mershin describes how this new approach to harvesting solar energy might bring truly green power to the people.

Source: MIT

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4 comments
mhenriday
Interesting ! The video is a bit misleading however - just any old refuse from one\'s garden won\'t cut the mustard. One won\'t be able to extract much working chlorophyll from those dried brown leaves, for example ; the reason they are brown is that the chlorophyll they contained has been degraded....
Henri
usugo
Interesting concept. However, like many concept it is destined to stay us such (my prediction). Still good for a top journal publication though and the subsequent awarding of grants, which is the aim of the exercise! A projected efficiency goal of 1-2 % is still ridiculously low and above all the chlorophyll molecules would be decaying pretty quickly, which means you should \"repaint\" your roof once a week or month, as in plants they are continuously replaced by the plant metabolism.
Richie Suraci
Please hurry up and get this product out here so we can use it.
Cliff Jordan
This is the first step to genetically engineering plants to generate electricity from the sun!