Taking from nature

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Natural electricity!

Using the proteins of Photosystem I from chloroplasts has become another way to make solar cells for electricity production.  Scientists at Vanderbilt University have published their results showing how they have improved the system of generating electricity from sunlight.

This article, "Spinach power gets a major boost" is an excellent example of a type of "natural selection" as the developmental progress eliminates weaker versions and favours advantageous adaptations to the model.  Is this the way chloroplasts actually became capable of making the proton gradient inside the thylakoid discs the hundreds of millions of years ago?  The scientists recognise that the aligned proteins of PS1 in the chloroplast are nearly 100% efficient yet they are not able to make this alignment. Their next step is ameliorating the biohybrid solar cells will be to attempt to arrive at this alignment.

What fascinated me was how the scientists are combining the natural power of plants to make use of solar energy with the physics of turning the light energy into the current of electrons we need to power our appliances.  While this idea is nearly 40 years old, The interdisciplinary group at Vanderbilt could serve as a model for the Group 4 Project.

The cost of electricity is rising especially where I live in Germany due to the projected closure of the nuclear power plants.  These biohybrid solar cells might be able to reduce the cost of electricity as the materials are very much less expensive than the commercial solar cells utilising rare earth metals.

Use in classes

The article would be best used after teaching the Photosynthesis topic, especially the Light Dependent Reaction.  Students should be able to link the transfer of electrons in the solar cell with the generation of the proton gradient driven by the electron flow in the thylakoid disc membranes.

This article might be useful to give to students with the launch of the Group 4 Project, illustrating how physicists, chemists and biologists work together towards a common goal.


Tags: natural selection photosynthesis protein ATP LDR