Generating electrical power from the sun may be about to take a new direction, using algae and sea creatures. Researchers at Gothenburg’s Chalmers University of Technology have used green fluorescent protein (GFP) extracted from jellyfish in combination with aluminum electrodes embedded in silicon dioxide. The GFP proteins align with the electrodes and produce an electrical charge when exposed to ultraviolet light. The cells are much cheaper (although using living creatures for fuel has some serious ethical implications) to make than existing polycrystalline cells that require titanium dioxide and other expensive materials to function.
The research team have also made a biological protein fuel cell that works with light from a chemical reaction between magnesium and luciferase enzymes from fireflies and sea pansies, hoping to use them to power biological monitors placed inside the human body.
Ocean algae and photosynthetic bacteria are other possible biological solar power options, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge who use photosynthetic cells layered on transparent conductive electrodes with a platinum nanoparticle loaded carbon cathode.
Sunlight makes the algae split water into oxygen, electrons and protons that normally combined with CO2 to make organic compounds instead can provide an electrical charge, just enough to power a clock. Overall efficiency is only 0.1% compared with 10-17% for silicon and gallium arsenide solar cells, but they expect to improve efficiency with further research.
Large biological photovoltaic power producing farms might one day be floating next to those offshore wind turbines.
Via NewScientist
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