Friday, September 28, 2012

Good morning,

Everyone knows that spinach is high in vitamins A, C and E as well as folic acid, magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron (despite the famous misplaced decimal point myth).

But in addition to its reputation as a superfood, spinach has recently been discovered by engineers to have certain properties that can be harnessed in order to generate electricity.

Please scroll down for more.

Thanks for reading,

Your Living Green editor

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Like many plants spinach contains a photosynthetic protein that converts light into electrochemical energy. Knowing this a team of scientists from Vanderbilt University isolated the protein and combined it with silicon. The result is a "biohybrid" solar cell that could very well lead to more efficient solar panels.

"This combination produces current levels almost 1,000 times higher than we were able to achieve by depositing the protein on various types of metals. It also produces a modest increase in voltage," lead scientist David Cliffel explained. "If we can continue on our current trajectory of increasing voltage and current levels, we could reach the range of mature solar conversion technologies in three years."

But why spinach? According to Cliffel, the protein in spinach used for photosynthesis can continue to function well after it is extracted. The protein is also known to convert sunlight into electrical energy with close to 100 percent efficiency. A considerable leap compared to the 40 percent achieved by modern devices.