Xylem Wires Making Roses Solar Powered

          Plant cyborgs have always been a creation of science fiction, but new research from Sweden has suggested that electronic vascular systems through roses could regulate plant growth. This could provide humans with more control over agricultural growth and plant production. Biofuel cells embedded into the plant could make the plants solar powered. The natural process of photosynthesis could also enable the sensor cells to to turn sunlight into chemical energy. Researchers at Linköping University have been developing experiments including electric circuits within the bodies of the roses, literally creating electronic plants.

       
         Wires no bigger than 10 cm were grown within garden rose stems were able to turn leaves into electronic light displays, with the ability to change color on demand. In addition, they placed working transistors based on the electronic wires in the plants. Magnus Berggren, a professor at the University in Sweden, says that "We are introducing a nervous system into the plants". By making use of the plant's xylem of channels that carry nutrients through the stems, Berggren's research team was able to pull off one of the most groundbreaking experiments in agricultural history.

       A liquid solution containing a solution referred to at PEDOT (ethylenedioxythiophene) were injected into the xylem of the plants and were distributed through the stems evenly.  Their results found the liquid solution would eventually form a wire capable of conducting electricity because of the plant's delayed immune response and the structure of the xylem channels. Berggren comments,"The plant is helping us to separate the events of distribution of the conducting and electronic materials from the event of film formation along the xylem walls".

       Transistors capable of converting chemical signs to electronic outputs are referred to by the researching team as "organic electrochemical transistors". They used the plant's circuity to show digital logic gates, which could lead to the plants's possibly performing more complex electronic operations. Swedish researchers also encapsulated a leaf in a syringe filled with the PEDOT solution to create electronic displays of the leaves. This allowed the team to manipulate the material within the leaves, changing their colors between light and dark patterns. The switch between light and dark typically took about 20 seconds. Though the researchers experimented with garden roses, Berggren predicts this discovery of pant control could create bigger electronic plants such as trees.


Source: IEEE Spectrum
Title: "Rewired Rose Plant Becomes Living Cyborg"
Author: Jeremy Hsu