Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley have utilised genetically engineered bacteria to produce the basic materials for the development of solar cells from tobacco plants.
The researchers involved say the technology could be more environmentally friendly than traditional methods of making solar cells and could lead to cheap biodegradable solar cells.
The bane of the tobacco industry, the tobacco mosaic virus, was genetically tweaked by the scientists and when applied to the tobacco plant, the plant produces tiny structures it would not normally would not make – artificial chromophones that turn light into high powered electrons.
The synthetic chromophores would need to be harvested and then dissolved in a liquid solution. The structures could sprayed over a glass or plastic substrate coated with molecules that secure the chromophones to the plastic.
Solar cells created in such a way wouldn’t last as long as the average silicon solar cell, but they could act as a cheap and temporary biodegradable power source.
Environmentally toxic chemicals are not required to make the solar cells and growing solar cells in tobacco plants could provide additional income opportunities for farmers.
The technology isn’t limited to tobacco plants. The researchers have already added the chromophore-producing genes to E. coli bacteria, and harvested solar cells from them as well. However, it will be quite some time before the "tobacco solar cell" hits the market in consumer devices as the scientists are yet to demonstrate the next step – the production of electricity from these cells.
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