Vanderbilt Research Team Uses Spinach to Harness Solar Energy
EPA's People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) program will help fund researchers from Vanderbilt University develop a prototype that uses spinach to harness solar energy.
A research team at Vanderbilt University has developed a way to use spinach to harness solar energy. The team combined silicon with Photosystem 1, a protein involved in photosynthesis, to make a solar cell that is more efficient than other "biohybrid" solar cells. Through an award from EPA's People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) program, the team will develop a prototype and potentially take the innovative technology to the market.
Links:
Science Daily - “Spinach Power Gets a Big Boost: Researchers Combine Spinach Protein with Silicon to make Biohybrid Solar Cell” 