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Popeye Was Right: There’s Energy in That Spinach
http://www.ats.org/news/popeye-was-right-theres-energy-in-that-spinach/[font face=Serif][font size=5]Popeye Was Right: There’s Energy in That Spinach[/font]
September 21, 2016
Kevin Hattori
[font size=4]Interdisciplinary discovery at Technion: a cell that uses sunlight to produce electricity and hydrogen from spinach leaf extract[/font]
[font size=3]Using a simple membrane extract from spinach leaves, researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a bio-photo-electro-chemical (BPEC) cell that produces electricity and hydrogen from water using sunlight. The raw material of the device is water, and its products are electric current, hydrogen and oxygen. The findings were published in the August 23 online issue of Nature Communications.
The unique combination of a man-made BPEC cell and plant membranes, which absorb sunlight and convert it into a flow of electrons highly efficiently, paves the way for the development of new technologies for the creation of clean fuels from renewable sources: water and solar energy.
The BPEC cell developed by the researchers is based on the naturally occurring process of photosynthesis in plants, in which light drives electrons that produce storable chemical energetic molecules, that are the fuels of all cells in the animal and plant worlds.
In order to utilize photosynthesis for producing electric current, the researchers added an iron-based compound to the solution. This compound mediates the transfer of electrons from the biological membranes to the electrical circuit, enabling the creation of an electric current in the cell.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12552September 21, 2016
Kevin Hattori
[font size=4]Interdisciplinary discovery at Technion: a cell that uses sunlight to produce electricity and hydrogen from spinach leaf extract[/font]
[font size=3]Using a simple membrane extract from spinach leaves, researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a bio-photo-electro-chemical (BPEC) cell that produces electricity and hydrogen from water using sunlight. The raw material of the device is water, and its products are electric current, hydrogen and oxygen. The findings were published in the August 23 online issue of Nature Communications.
The unique combination of a man-made BPEC cell and plant membranes, which absorb sunlight and convert it into a flow of electrons highly efficiently, paves the way for the development of new technologies for the creation of clean fuels from renewable sources: water and solar energy.
The BPEC cell developed by the researchers is based on the naturally occurring process of photosynthesis in plants, in which light drives electrons that produce storable chemical energetic molecules, that are the fuels of all cells in the animal and plant worlds.
In order to utilize photosynthesis for producing electric current, the researchers added an iron-based compound to the solution. This compound mediates the transfer of electrons from the biological membranes to the electrical circuit, enabling the creation of an electric current in the cell.
…[/font][/font]