Researchers from the University of Cambridge have created tiny 'skyscrapers' for communities of photosynthetic bacteria, to help them generate electricity from just sunlight and water.
To reach these results, the researchers used 3D printing to create networks of "nano-dwellings" towers that provide a suitable habitat for the rapid growth of sun-loving bacteria.
They were also able to extract electronic waste from photosynthesis, which can be used to power nanoelectronics.
3D printing helps boost electricity generation from photosynthetic sun-loving bacteria (Uric Alert)
Searching for a suitable bacterial habitat
The issue of extracting energy from photosynthetic bacteria is not new, but the study, published in the journal Nature Materials on March 7, showed that securing suitable housing for these bacteria increases the amount of energy they can extract to a certain extent. Large enough to compete with the traditional methods used in the generation of bio-renewable energy.
Although current sustainable technologies, such as solar cells and silicon-based biofuels, have many advantages over many fossil fuels in terms of carbon emissions, they are governed by some limitations such as reliance on mining, agriculture, land use and recycling challenges, which leads to Biodiversity loss.
In an official statement published on the Eurek Alert website, Dr. Jenny Jang of the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry explained that the approach she and her colleagues have taken is a "step towards making more sustainable renewable energy devices for the future." ".
Cyanobacteria are among the most abundant organisms on Earth, making them an important source of sustainable energy (Getty Images)
Nanotowers serve as electrodes
Cyanobacteria, or photosynthetic bacteria, which are among the most abundant organisms on Earth, have long prompted researchers to extract energy from them by "reconnecting" their photosynthetic machinery.
To grow, cyanobacteria need a lot of sunlight, like the surface of a lake in the summer, and the bacteria must be attached to electrodes in order to extract the energy they produce during photosynthesis.
Thus, the Cambridge team 3D-printed metal-oxide-nanoparticle electrodes intended to work with cyanobacteria as they perform photosynthesis.
The electrodes were printed as pole structures so branched and dense that they resembled a small city.
Jang's team has developed a printing technology that allows the length scales of the printed form to be controlled, making the structures highly customizable, so that a wide range of towers can be made to varying heights on demand.
Tower electrodes have excellent light-treatment properties, like a tall apartment tower with lots of windows (Getty Images)
Versatile chemical plants
Zhang explained that the tower electrodes they developed in their new research "have excellent light-handling properties, like a tall residential tower with lots of windows."
"The cyanobacteria need something to hold them together to form a bacterial community. This is where the electrodes come in, balancing a lot of surface area and a lot of light, like in a glass skyscraper."
Zhang explained that cyanobacteria are versatile chemical plants, stressing that "the use of tower nanoelectrodes that they developed allows us to take advantage of the energy conversion pathway at an early stage, which helps us understand how to carry out the energy conversion process so that we can use it to generate renewable fuels or to generate electricity." Chemicals".