A common bacterium that lives in the human gut and can sometimes cause nasty stomach upsets can be used for good, scientists from the University of British Columbia have discovered. In what may well be a first for the solar industry, they genetically engineered a culture of E. coli to make the bacteria produce greater amounts of sun-soaking dye lycopene (the red pigment in tomatoes) and then watched that lycopene degrade and produce an electric current.
Now, from one perspective this is the latest demonstration of the vast range of good uses that bacteria could be put to. From another, it is a cheaper alternative to other ways of harvesting sunlight using bacteria, which basically come down to extracting their sun-soaking pigments.
It sounds kind of cruel if you’re not a bacteria hater: the UBC researchers first genetically modified the microorganisms, then they noticed the pigment degrading, which means it was producing electrons, and they decided to check if the current this degradation produces is meaningful.
To that end, they coated the bacterial culture with a semiconductor and stuck it to a glass surface in a sunny spot. The result: the bacteria produced energy density of 0.686 milliamps per square centimeter. That’s 0.324 milliamps more than previous bacteria-based solar cells, and it was produced more cheaply.
While the phrase “low cost” is always attractive, it is uncertain at this point what the actual savings would be if the technology could be developed at scale. But what could make this bionic solar cell a hit in the future is the fact that the genetically modified E. coli could soak sunlight just as well under an overcast sky as under a sunny one. This means bionic solar cells could be used in places where the weather conditions are not suitable for synthetic PV panels.
More at: https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Ene...-Of-Solar.html
Site Information
About Us
- RonPaulForums.com is an independent grassroots outfit not officially connected to Ron Paul but dedicated to his mission. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Connect With Us