Although plant photosynthesis is the key to most life on earth, photosynthesis is very inefficient in using sunlight.Only about 1% of sunlight energy is stored in plants. Recently, scientists in California and Delaware have invented a new photosynthesis reaction pathway, which improves the energy utilization rate by 18 times! The environmental impact of agriculture can be reduced if the system is used to increase crop productivity. The results were published in the journal Nature Food in June.
There is still room for improvement in plant photosynthesis efficiency
The chloroplast photosynthesis of plants and algae uses sunlight energy to convert carbon dioxide and water absorbed by the environment into carbohydrates (such as cellulose, starch, sugar, etc.), which not only provide nutrients for their own growth, but also food sources for other organisms.AlthoughPhotosynthesis has evolved over hundreds of millions of years in nature, but in fact, the photosynthesis efficiency of plants is not high, and only about 1% of sunlight energy is stored in plants. Although plants nourish countless lives on the earth, if they can improve the efficiency of photosynthesis, they can increase agricultural yields and indirectly reduce the impact on the environment.
artificial photosynthesis
Recently, scientists from the University of California-Riverside and the University of Delaware collaborated on a new technology that first uses an electrolyzer to convert carbon dioxide and water into acetate ions (CH3COO−), and then algae , yeast, mushrooms, lettuce, etc. can use the nutrient solution containing these acetate ions to grow even in the dark. The research team successfully got rid of human’s dependence on plant photosynthesis, allowing various commercial crops to grow and thrive. This kind of chemical technology that mimics biological natural photosynthesis is called “Artificial Photosynthesis”. Compared with photosynthesis, the energy efficiency of algae cultured by artificial photosynthesis is about 4 times higher; the energy efficiency of yeast culture is about 18 times higher than that of traditional methods.
A talk leads to new research
What led to this collaborative research was sparks from academic presentations in the fall of 2018. Professor Jiao Feng, a Chinese scientist who teaches at the University of Delaware, went to the University of California Riverside to give a speech, showing how to use electrolyzers to convert carbon dioxide into other organic molecules. Assistant Professor Jinkerson, who was also listening to the speech, heard that he could When he used this method to make acetic acid, he was in high spirits, because he wanted to develop a plant cultivation technology that does not rely on plant photosynthesis. The two research teams hit it off and quickly began to cooperate.
It didn’t take long for the collaboration, and challenges emerged immediately. The research team soon discovered that the acetic acid solution produced by Professor Jiao Feng contained too high a concentration of salts and was completely unsuitable for the growth of algae, fungi or plants. Jiao Feng’s team improved the process of electrolysis of carbon dioxide into a two-step (Two-Step) reaction: carbon dioxide was first converted into carbon monoxide, and then carbon monoxide was converted into acetic acid. This produces a suitable acetic acid solution.
Favored by NASA
This research achievement breaks the limit of plant photosynthesis and has great application space. It passed the first stage of the “Deep Space Food Challenge” and won a prize of 25,000 US dollars. The challenge is an international competition co-organized by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. Winning teams must create novel and future-proof food production technologies that use energy efficiently and provide the capabilities needed for long-term space missions safe, nutritious and delicious food source.
Technological progress is never-ending, and perhaps one day, artificial photosynthesis technology can really help realize the vision of human beings growing crops in space. Before that, it may be able to help solve the impact and pollution of large-scale agricultural production on the earth’s ecology.
(First image source: Flickr/DM CC BY 2.0)
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