“Now we will be able to influence the concentration of the various substances in the plant that regulate growth and development”.
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The group at Linkoping University in Sweden, under the leadership of professor Magnus Berggren, used the vascular system of living roses to build key components of electronic circuits. These researchers also took help of a few senior researchers at Umeå Plant Science Center and Linköping University.
“As far as we know, there are no previously published research results regarding electronics produced in plants”, said study lead study author Magnus Berggren in a statement. Once it was sucked into the rose’s system, the polymers “grew” into a circuitry by following the natural internal structure of the plant, and, with the existence of electrolytes, made it easier for the circuit to function and serve as a transistor. Once inside xylem channels, the polymer self-assembles into an “wire” that conducts electrical signals, while still allowing water and nutrients to move around. Early efforts to introduce electronics in plants were attempted by Assistant Professor Daniel Simon, leader of the LOE’s bioelectronics team, and Professor Xavier Crispin, leader of the LOE’s solid-state device team, but a lack of funding from sceptical investors halted these projects. “The sugar that is produced in the leaves is converted by the enzyme; they deliver a charge to the electrode and then hopefully we can collect that charge in a biofuel cell”.
She has measured the conductive ability of the polymer from 0.13 siemens/cm all the way up to 1 siemens/cm. Dr Eliot Gomez used methods common in plant biology – vacuum infiltration – to infuse another PEDOT variant into the leaves. This lead to the creation electrochemical cells pixels segregated by the veins. This means that the leaf functions in somewhat the same way as the printed character display on a roll that is manufactured at Acreo Swedish ICT in Norrköping. Applied voltage caused the polymer to interact with the ions in the leaf, subsequently changing the colour of the PEDOT in a display-like device. “With integrated and distributed electronics in plants, one can envisage a range of applications including precision recording and regulation of physiology, energy harvesting from photosynthesis, and alternatives to genetic modification for plant optimization”.
“It seems as if the polymers we use had been created for their function”, Mr Gabrielsson states.
“Everything occurs naturally, and we use the plants’ own very advanced, unique systems.” he added. “We can place sensors in plants and use the energy formed in the chlorophyll, produce green antennas, or produce new materials”, he concluded in a paper featured in the journal Science Advances.
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The idea of combining electronics and plants sounds like something you might see in a far-flung corner of Glastonbury festival, but it’s actually been an area of research since the 1990s. “No one’s done this before”, he stated.
