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AlgAe Powered lAmPby Mike ThoMpson
ChlAmydomonAs reinhArdtii
30-nanometre-wide gold electrodes were
inserted directly into these algal cells
to draw off electrons carrying energy
absorbed from light.
ConCePtLaTro: aLgae powered LaMp
lAtroaLgae powered LaMp 2035 -
The drive for alternative energy sources in response to dwindling fossil fuel reserves has led to many so-called ‘green’ energy solutions. however, such is man’s dependency on oil that no one solution can be considered the definitive answer to our growing energy demands. as such, our future energy needs will be met by various sources, not least by tapping into the energy capacity of our most immediate, natural surroundings.
as advances in nanotechnology lead to more energy efficient products, for example, developments in Led technology, small-scale, natural energy resources such as plant life and algae will become attractive sources of energy. it will become not just economically appealing, but essential to create a new symbiosis between man, nature and technology.
algae has long been cited as the next super fuel due to its high concentration of lipid oils (contributing half of algae’s composition by weight). scientists have studied this oil for decades as the key ingredient in the production of biodiesel, creating a fuel that burns cleaner and more efficiently than the petroleum it was born to replace. however, almost three-quarters of the sunlight energy absorbed by algae is lost before it can be turned into the sugars or starches used to make biofuels. in 2010, scientists from yansei and stanford University pioneered a technique by where 30-nanometre wide gold electrodes
were inserted into the photosynthesisingorgans – chloroplasts – of algal cells, thus managing to draw a small electrical current from algae during photosynthesis. in the future it may be possible to power small electrical devices by stealing electrons from photosynthesising algae. Latro is a speculative product responding to this future market.
Latro (meaning thief in latin) incorporates both the natural energy potential of algae and the functionality of a hanging lamp into its design. synthesising both nature and technology in one form, Latro is a living, breathing product. algae are incredibly easy to cultivate, requiring only sunlight, carbon dioxide (Co2) and water, thus offering a remarkably simple way of producing energy. breathing into the handle of the lamp provides the algae with Co2, whilst the side spout allows the addition of more water and release of oxygen. placing the lamp outside in the daylight, the algae use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. a light sensor monitors the light intensity, only permitting the leeching of electrons when the lux level passes the threshold. This way, algae can be tapped for electricity during photosynthesis without leaving the algae malnourished. The energy is subsequently stored in a battery ready to be called upon during hours of darkness. owners of Latro are required to treat the algae much like a pet – feeding and caring for the algae rewarding them with light.
latro: Algae Powered lamp
wired
30 nanometre wide gold electrodes are
inserted into the chloroplast of each algal
cell. each cell registers a current of 1.2
picoamps – equivalent to a yield of 0.6
milliamps per square centimetre.
hundreds & thousAnds
algal cells inserted with gold
nanoelectrodes are connected to one
central battery, storing energy for use
during hours of darkness.
steP 1. wAter
Latro requires 3 basic materials for
photosynthesis: water; Co2; and sunlight.
The side spout allows for topping up water
and the release of oxygen, created as a by-
product during photosynthesis.
steP 2. Co2
blowing into the handle gives the algae
the Co2 needed to synthesize foods during
photosynthesis.
steP 3. sunlight
hanging the lamp outside in the daylight,
the lamp draws electrical current from the
algae during photosynthesis.
interviewprof. dr wiM J VredenbergUniVersiTy of wageningen
interview with
Prof. dr. wim J vredenberg
UniVersiTy of wageningen
1. firstly, could you please explain a little
bit about your research into the electrical
potential of plants?
i am by education an experimental physicist.
an experimental physicist is given an object
to study its properties. These can be mechanical,
electrical, magnetic, quantum mechanical
etc. for measurements you need technology,
for interpretation you need knowledge. i got
my university degree [at Utrecht] in 1960,
and starting from the 40’s a new area came
up – biophysics – the application of physical
technology and knowledge to study biological
processes. at that time i came in contact with
the group in Leiden, and they were working
on photosynthesis in photosynthetic bacteria.
Until then, one knew that bacteria, like green
single cells and leaves, used light to reduce
carbon dioxide into sugars and evolve oxygen.
That was photosynthesis. at the time i started,
one asked the question – light to sugar?
how is that done? when a molecule absorbs
light it comes into a higher energy state
and then that state somehow causes its energy
to discharge an electron from one side to the
other, from what we call a donor to an acceptor.
so we have electrical transfer, electron transfer.
how can you study something of that electron
transfer? if 100%
of this energy is converted then it’s most
efficient, but that’s of course never the case.
always, and i have spoke about that a lot,
radiation is coming back – fluorescence.
if you have a green leaf, and i shine a light
on it, you can measure fluorescent light from
that leaf that is red. That’s about 2 - 10%
loss. now you will understand that this easy
to measure. what’s inside all of this and
what’s formed is more difficult. but you can
understand that if you have a healthy leaf you
give light to, that 90% is converted there.
if you give more and more light, the leaf says,
“sorry my capacity is full, i can’t store more.
i’ll send it back as fluorescence.” you see
over time that the fluorescence is not constant
and that it changes. These changes say
something about what’s going on inside.
2. i understand you have used similar
techniques to those employed by yonsei &
standford University to study photosynthesis
in algae. Could you explain a little bit about
this work?
each cell is surrounded by a cell wall, an ex-
ternal membrane, and each cellular component
is surrounded by a membrane. now suppose
that the chlorophyll molecule is situated in a
membrane in such a way that the
latro: Algae Powered lamp
electron goes from one side of the membrane
to the other. you have displaced a charge from
one side to the other. if you do that, you have
made a charge separation. you have created
an electrical potential. [pointing to a magnified
image of a leaf from peperomica Metallica]
here you come into the chloroplast with a very
small glass needle. now you shine a flashlight
on the chloroplast. you see that the electron
crosses the membrane. you were speaking
about nanotechnology. This is micro-technology,
but the principle is there. Coming back to
what stanford did. we made glass micro-glass
capillaries. The opening of these capillaries are
less than 1 micron, therefore you are happy that
there are leaves that have big chloroplasts.
This was already done in ‘69. The russians
showed they were able to insert a micro
-pipette into a chloroplast, shine a light on
it and see electric potential. in 1970 there
was the international bio-physics Congress
in Moscow so i went there to visit the lab.
one of the phd students that had worked
on the research was with me 2 years later.
we spent several years together and i learnt
it from him. instead of these glass capillaries
[yonsei & standford University] used very
thin gold – 60 nanometres. That’s incredibly
small. it should be small because you don’t
want to disrupt the system.
if you puncture it, it’s like a balloon – pop.
They have been more successful with
developing solid-state electrodes with which
to do it, but in principle what they do is
the same as what we have done.
3. do you think this research has potential
as a means of generating low quantities of
energy?
The potential, electricity, you have, but the
current, the power, is very low. but that’s the
principle from one chloroplast. if you cut a
leaf, you see the leaf cells. in the leaf cells are
six chloroplasts. if you now ask how many
is that in the tree, you have to multiply all the
cells in the leaves, and then you have a certain
amount of energy there. why didn’t i do that
calculation? if you have one leaf, you count
the number of elements you need to collect
the electricity. it’s a closed system. but then
i become the biologist. why should i do that?
i could draw the electricity from this green cell,
but i could wait to have enough timber and
burn it. i have done experiments to measure
electricity so i can understand why this is
this and why this happens. so if you ask is it
theoretically possible? as far as we know, yes.
latro: Algae Powered lamp
ChloroPlAst
Chloroplasts are organelles containing
chlorophyll that are responsible for
photosynthesis in plant cells.
4. during their tests, the team shone
a halogen lamp on their alga, their circuit
registering a current of 1.2 pico amps –
equivalent to a yield of 0.6 milliamps per
square centimetre. by increasing the light
intensity that value rose to a maximum
of 6 milliamps per square centimetre.
some silicon solar cells have a current density
of 35 milliamps per square centimetre.
To give you an idea of the potential, a 5mm
superbright Led requires 15ma of current
or 3.22v. i’m no expert in electronics but it
would seem to me that this research has
great potential. for example, it has been
suggested that developments in nano-
technology will lead to Led’s becoming
increasingly energy efficient, requiring
less energy to emit light. what is your view
on this?
you use the word scaling. That’s also behind
my question: “why should i do it better than
the plants?” This is one chloroplast. now, to
make an approximation: Take a small plastic
bag – a sandwich bag. Take a big garbage bag.
fold it, make it small, and put it in the small
sandwich bag. Then you have the chloroplast.
in the same volume you have magnified,
many-fold the surface. if we want to make an
artificial leaf that produces the same amount
of energy as a natural leaf you have to deal
with this architecture to magnify your sensitive
surface. you mention that we can make
so many picoamps per square centimetre, so
you can ask what is the surface area needed?
you could ask how is the leaf doing it? That’s
a very interesting point in biology.
5. by taking an individual approach to energy
production consumers become more alert to
their consumption and our understanding of
products and energy changes. a new process
emerges by where the amount of light you
receive is intrinsically linked to the care and
respect paid to the product. in this sense
Latro is not viewed as just another product,
but rather as a pet, feeding and caring for the
algae rewarding us with energy.
we have a word for it – adaptation. a plant
can come under stress and that stress, you
see. plants adapt their form to a limitation in
function. They adapt to the local conditions.
you could ask, how does a plant know that
it doesn’t have sufficient water, or, how does
it know to react in that way? That is intelligence.
i come to this point because you ask, “how
do we look at energy, how do we use and
consume energy?” if we have too much what
do we do with the surplus? do we throw
it away or do use it for other purposes? or
do we, and that’s what plants do, if they have
latro: Algae Powered lamp
ArAbidoPsis ProtoPlAst
arabidopsis protoplast showing
chloroplasts in blue. Taken using a
Confocal Microscope by prof. bruce
d. kohorn, professor of biology and
biochemistry at bowdoin College.
too much they adapt their machinery so the
excess diminishes. That’s what you might
call a feedback system. a surplus in the
chloroplast might lead to the activation
of another organelle so the surplus is not
wasted but used elsewhere.
if you take a piece of gold and you want to
measure its heat conductance, come the
following day, if you take the same piece or
another piece, you get the same result – its
pure gold. if you work with a leaf, that is
different. you are working with living material.
That shifts your appreciation. if you work
with living cells there is much amazement
in how it is structured, how it functions.
why is its structure changing in another climate
to adapt so that it can profit from lesser or
better conditions?
but lets come to your point. if you are inte-
rested to see how we behave with respect
to the use of energy, then you can also learn
from nature. i can imagine that as a designer,
you could bring this into some form or
construction. it is fascinating that you look
at photosynthesis, that you come up with
this because some people were able to extract
electricity from algae. My message to
you would be, that you put in your design,
the fascination, the amazement of how the
process works, and try to visualise that
the fascination is bigger because the structure,
the architecture in which this occurs, is so
balanced, so super fine. it’s nano.
latro: Algae Powered lamp
lAtro
by taking an individual approach to
energy production consumers become
more alert to their consumption and our
understanding of products and energy
changes.
Profile
Mike Thompson explores both old and new technologies in order to generate fresh relationships between function and behaviour, questioning common codes of conduct. after graduating from the iM Masters course at the design academy eindhoven in 2009, Mike set up his own studio specialising in scenario design. Mike currently lives and works in eindhoven in the netherlands.
ContACt
Mike Thompsonkronehoefstraat 15612 hk eindhovenThe netherlands
t: +31 (0) 638 584 931e: info@miket.co.ukw: www.miket.co.uk
ACknowledgements
kees berendesusana Camara Leretformafantasmagionata gattodaniel rossialice schwabprof. dr. wim J Vredenberg (wageningen University)Jonny wray
Mike Thompsont: +31 (0) 638 584 931e: info@miket.co.ukw: www.miket.co.uk
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