Electronic circuits on roses pave way for plant-based fuel

Science Advances featured the work of researchers at Linköping University in Sweden who have successfully developed electronic circuits out of roses.

Gizmodo writes that the cyborg smart plant has the possibility to sense environmental changes and report them. This new technology could also allow people to regulate the growth of plants using a switch. This new development can also lead to plant-based fuel that can turn the sugar from photosynthesis into electricity.

"As far as we know, there are no previously published research results regarding electronics produced in plants," the study's lead author Magnus Berggren said. "No one's done this before."

Financial Express reported that the researchers used the vascular system found in roses to create the important components needed or the electronic circuits. By integrating electronic functionality with plants, electric signals can be combined with the chemical processes that plants undergo.  

In a report by Economic Times, Umea Plant Science Centre director and professor of plant reproduction biology Ove Nilsson said "Previously, we had no good tools for measuring the concentration of various molecules in living plants. Now we'll be able to influence the concentration of the various substances in the plant that regulate growth and development."

To make it work, the researchers first introduce the synthetic polymer, PEDOT-S to the rose via its stem. The plant then sucks the polymer through xylem, which is the same system that allows the rose to transport water. Once the PEDOT-S gets to the xylem channels, the polymer transforms into a wire that serves as an electrical signal conductor. Water and nutrients still move around the plant. Since the plant's tissue has naturally-occurring electrolytes, the wires from the polymer can be connected. This creates electrochemical transistor and digital logic gate, which is a basic component that runs computer systems.

This scientific breakthrough has been under works for 20 years. Researchers tried to insert electronics into trees back in the 1990s, but there were not enough funding.