The succulents shine in shades of red, green, blue and more after being infused with phosphorus particles that slowly absorb and free light.
Chinese scientists have created the first multicolored plants that shine in the dark. They are multicolored succulents that carry in sunlight.
As Suculentas luminescentes created by material engineers, on the sidelines of a study this Wednesday in Matterthey are capable of shining up to two hours.
This innovation is a Dream of public lightingbut not only. As researchers refer to, this invention paves the way for sustainable plants based on plants to illuminate any space.
“Imagine luminous trees to replace street lamps. The particles spread in just seconds, and the entire succulent leaf shone, ”said the main author of the study, Shuting LiuResearcher at the Southern Agricultural University of China.
Scientists had created plants that shine in the dark before.
As it refers to, genetic engineering approaches take advantage of bioluminescent genes that already exist in certain plantslike phytoplankton – but these genes have a limited range of colors, mostly green, according to the study.
Material engineering techniques, in turn, involve the injection of light -emitting particles on the leaves of the plants to make them shinebut these methods so far only generated lightning light.
For strong luminescence, light -emitting particles must be small enough to spread through the tissues of a plant, but also large enough to emit a visible shine.
Previous experiences using Pirilampo luciferase nanoparticles, the enzyme that creates bioluminescence in pyrilampos, produced only a fresh shine that fell abruptly after 30 minutes.
In the new study, the succulents held for up to two hours.
Researchers injected phosphorus particles into the sheets of succulents echeveria “mebina” and carried the plants in sunlight or inner LED light for a few minutes, obtaining the same post-luminescence effect in both experiments.
Green particles produced the longest brightnesswith the plants emitting light up to two hours, rivaling with a night lamp on the peak of intensity.
The team produced the world’s first multicolored luminescent plants Inject particles of blue, green, red and blue-viletor phosphorus into the leaves of some succulents.
Scientists also built a 56 succulent plant wall that produced enough light to see nearby objects and read text in the dark.
Dream of public lighting
Luminescent succulents may one day be a low carbon lighting solution, according to the study.
Researchers now expect to produce the same effect on other plants, which could be exposed to sunlight and loaded as batteries to provide decorative and practical lighting.
“The process is simple and economical and reaches luminescence in 10 minutes, paving the way for practical applications in plant -based lighting,” the OS, wrote, quoted by Live Science.
