Eco Factor: Synthetic solar cells grown on tobacco plants.
Researchers at UC Berkeley have found a way to hack tobacco plants to grow synthetic photovoltaic and photochemical cells that can easily be extracted, dissolved in a solution and sprayed onto any substrate to create solar cells.
Plants are naturally good collectors of sunlight, and researchers at UC Berkeley have genetically programmed a virus that infects tobacco crops to manufacture artificial chromosphores that turn sunlight into high-powered electrons that can be harvested.
The result of the research is an ecofriendly manufacturing process of solar cells that are not quite efficient as silicon, but since they’re biodegradable, they can be used in various temporary and disposable devices.
Via: Popsci/Discovery News
