Plant Power ... Pg. 16

A chemical engineer, Orlin Velev, is trying to use leaves natural pigments that help them harvest the sun's rays, to generate clean new electricity!!!!
His non-toxic photovoltaic device that will be doing this consists of light-sensitive molecules (chlorophyll) embedded in a water based gel sandwiched between copper and plastic electrodes.

Solar cells we use today contain many toxic elements, unlike these Velev's device can release safe non toxic chemicals into the enviroment! ALSO the cell's flexibility results in it being an ideal source for covvering many irregular surfaces.


I think this qwould change our worlds way of developing electricity, because solar panels are very cost effective, and contain many toxic chemicals into our enviroment! I believe this way of getting electricity is a very important discovery and should be looked into more thoroughly. Velev's device is also very flexible and can be used in many ways, and also could be rolled up for easy transportation, unlike the solar panels we use today are solid and heavy!

imagine the possibilities. electricity anywhere you want it. this technology in theory could revolutionize many industries, from recreation to warfare.

this is an excellent prototype governments should be swarming all over this to help save the world rather then destroy it by continuing to mine the coal and going to the oil sands if this canbe promoted we could probably advance the technology making it extremely efficient and then we wont have to pay 1.10 pper L for Gas haha! i think this would revolutionize the world especially if we introduce it in the third world countries it could provide energy for cleaning the water supply.

Exactly what i was thinking!
It could get those people the heat adn light they desperatley need.
It can save people, it can help peopel survive in those third world countries.

Electricity has given us so many luxuries, so why can't everyone in the world share those luxuries?
This might be an answer!

This is a great idea! Disease and death are almost always caused in developing nations due to a lack of clean water and lack of advancement in technology. I completely agree with 'sharing the luxery' that technology brings people! So many people suffer around the world and as science progresses and new ideas such as these come up it gives people hope that change really can happen and that the solution might be closer than we think!

Wow. i cant believe plants can be used for electricity! Does anybody know how far this technology is from being an actual "thing"? Third world countries need this obvs but do you think they will actually get it? Alot of technologies that we have in North America havent reached places like india yet. This would be nice if it were to help the world with electricity but seriously, it will only help developed countries become better than what they actually are. its basically widening the gap between the developed and the undeveloped and between the rich and the poor. is that a good thing? Truly im all for this advancement but being realistic unlike others on this chat board. it'll helpp us, not them.

Electricity is needed in many places and im sure this advancement will be a thing that will be remembered forever!

I don't know how far away we are from having this type of technology for daily use, and even for third woprld countries. But i do disagree with you in which why would it only prosper us developed nations? If we implyu this into third world countries, why wouldn't they prosper and become more develpoed? Thjese devices are way cheaper then solar panels and modern generators, and if these third world countries can afford to uphold these devices they will!

BULLAY SONAY HALL.

SAAAAASTRIAKAL!
okay agreeed. It is cheaper but still. Our continent is waaay more advanced. IF we give this to them, that would be a truee goood deed!

I wonder what else we could find in leaves and different types of plaants? Maybe a cure for cancer is in a type of plant!

I hope this technology keeps on advancing because things like finding an alternative source for electricity is amazing! CANCER NEXT PLEASE!

To truly find a cure cancer is remarkably amazing!

And to maybe find it in something simple as plants? WOW

Cancer research is getting more and more intact so who knows what will happen? Who knows what we can find?
I hope one day soon we find a cure for cancer, because that would save so many people from death, so many people from distraught and fear!

I think that this type of discory would greatly change the future if it came into effect. The flexible cells will be more useful then the cells we have today as they will be able to cover many more types of surfaces. And the non-toxic element to them is a great way to help save the enviroment. I believe that if these cells are made to use around the world it will greatly change the quality of life for many people.

HAHA discory lol sorry ciara but that made me smile lol
anyways yeah i agree it world drastically change the future however the governments are making a large amount of money off of the fossil fuels we have today therefore will probably try to sabotage this new invention just like they did with Motors EV1 the world as we see today is more into the economy then environmental issues.

The plastic itself has low production costs in high volumes, but the main disadvantages associated with organic photovoltaic cells are low power conversion efficiency (<3%), low stability and low strength. Also, temperature variations can lead to device degradation and decreased performance over time.

Hopefully they will do more research in order to make the cells more efficient, and strong so that, soon, they can use them in everyday technologies

kristen remember to use Quotations for copy and pasting hahaha
but in all seriousness this idea is awesome but the efficiency like it said in the article is very bad if they can find a way to improve this im sure it would go all over the world and more and more scientists will try to improve this invention and if this happens the would will most likely begin to heal itself from the damage pollution has caused on it up to this date.

Yeah that’s a really brilliant idea. We’re in desperate need of new energy sources and this is a great alternative. It’s interesting how he’s able to basically, use photosynthesis to produce electricity. It’s also cool that the cell is flexible, that will defiantly help bring electricity to places we haven’t been able to before. If Velev is able to successfully increase the cell’s efficiency and it becomes readily available to us, I think that they’re probably going to be seen everywhere.

Cure for cancer from plants? That would be really incredible; who knows maybe something like that will happen. A cure for a disease that big is obviously really complicated but it would truly be an extraordinary feat.

yeah Ashley this is a good idea but i think its gonna be a loong time before this will come into play the oil companys might even try to sabotage it!