Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have shown that placing nanotubes in the cells of plants increases their ability to absorb solar energy.
The team said the study could be used a new field called plant "nanobionics", in which nanoparticles could improve regular plants' natural functions and create artificial plants that can grow and fix themselves with water and solar energy, according to PhysicsWorld.
Energy absorption increased by 30 percent in some of the altered plants compared to ordinary plants, the Los Angeles Times reported. Other plants with the technology were able to find small traces of pollutants in the air.
Michael Strano, professor of chemical engineering at MIT and leader of the research team, said the discovery will lead to further research in the use of the technology.
"The idea is to impart plants with functions that are non-native to them," Strano said.
The team couldn't water the plants with a solution with nanoparticles in it because plant roots block off nanotubes from coming in, according to the Los Angeles Times. The team instead forced a solution with nanoparticles in a syringe so it could enter the stomata, the small pores on the underside of the leaves that absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen and water.
"It is surprising that it worked because the leaf is designed to be a very selective membrane," Strano said. "Usually water evaporates out of the leaf through the stromata, but here it is going the other way."
The researchers then had to get the nanotubes into the chloroplast, an organelle in the planet that absorbs solar energy. The team accomplished this by wrapping the nanotubes in a polymer that sticks to the lipid bubble surrounding the chloroplast, the Los Angeles Times reported. The lipid bubble let the nanotubes in without a problem.
The research was published in the journal Nature Materials. Juan Pablo Giraldo, plant biologist and member of the team, is the lead author of the paper, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The new objective for the MIT team is to gain more knowledge on how carbon nanotubes absorb and move light energy to the technology in chloroplast, PhysicsWorld reported.
"The ultimate goal is to find out whether assembling chloroplasts with nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes can help increase the amount of chemical fuels (such as glucose) that plants produce," Giraldo said. "Such studies will take our technology to a new level of applications, such as increasing crop yields or algae biofuel production."
