Scientists from MIT have managed to use the fotosynthesefunctie of a plant artificially strengthen with the use of koolstofnanobuizen. By the procedure of catching the chloroplasts in a plant thirty percent more energy from sunlight.
The findings of the researchers at MIT are published on the university website and in an article for the scientific journal Nature Materials. Photosynthesis is the process that occurs in the leaves of plants, place, where, among others, the energy from light is converted into nutrients such as sugars. Thanks to the koolstofnanobuizen can plant a broader spectrum of light absorb; there is more energy available to knock electrons loose.
Where a plant is normally up to about ten percent of the energy in sunlight it absorbs, is that in the experiment with thirty percent and in isolated chloroplasts even with 49 percent. After the insertion of the koolstofnanobuizen in the chloroplasts of plants, it was measured that there are more electrons through the membranes of the chloroplasts arose, which indicates more photosynthesis. How much impact the interventions of the researchers have on the final production of glucose in the plants, it is not yet clear: the researchers have not yet focused on the second step of the increase of target the glucose production. The research could lead to efficient solar cells based on chlorophyll.
Researchers from MIT bring the koolstofnanobuizen to the Arabidopsis thaliana plant
In addition, the presence of koolstofnanobuizen in any other way modified, in chloroplasts ensure that the plant can serve as a chemical sensor. The plant with the color of the leaf or nitric oxide at or in the magazine, which offers the possibility to use plants that are adapted with koolstofnanobuizen as luchtvervuilingsmonitor. Nitric oxide is a for the human body harmful substance that among other things is released in the combustion processes in automobiles and power plants. However, there may also be adjustments to be done by which a plant can detect if there are explosives or chemical weapons in the area, according to the researchers.
With a near-infrared microscope can be seen how many electrons through the leaf to move