Making Electricity by Harnessing the Life Force of Algae and Plants Using a Power Cell to Their Capture Energy.

Turning plants into living sustainable energy using micro-photosynthetic cell technology, without killing them, could be in the future when this new technology is fully realized.

From Canada a group clever researchers at Optical Bio Microsystem lab at Concordia University in Montreal, invented a device that can harness electric energy from growing live algae. In a way one might think impossible or assume it was being processed into bio fuel; it isn't bio-fuel and there is another way for a carbon free source of power.

Using Blue Green algae, cyanobacteria more specifically, which I introduced in my last post about algae you can catch up on by clicking the link below. Algae like all plants breath. The very act of breathing creates and uses energy, aka electricity. As the alga resperate by absorbing CO2 and photosynthesis takes place the microorganisms utilize energy/electricity to make this process happen.
https://steemit.com/science/@solarguy/cool-algae-series-part-1-what-these-microscopic-alien-and-128125-looking-creature-can-do

Actually all plants do but algae is easier to control and has a double feature of cleaning the air of pollution at the same time in a sustainable environmentally friendly way. Not only reducing our carbon footprint and replenishing it with clean oxygen it could also be harvested for animal feed or some type of bio fuel depending on the strain. If Spirulina was used and it was breathing non polluted air it could be harvested as food for animals or people. But like I mentioned it doesn’t need to be harvested it can keep growing and producing electricity as long as it receives the proper care.

Maybe hearing it from the man who led the team that built and designed it can best sum it up.
"Both photosynthesis and respiration, which take place in plant cells, involve electron transfer chains. By trapping the electrons released by blue-green algae during photosynthesis and respiration, we can harness the electrical energy they produce naturally,” said engineer Muthukumaran Packirisamy from Concordia University in Montreal.

Muthukumaran Packirisamy

Professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Concordia Institute of Aerospace Design & Innovation. He leads one of the world’s most advance laboratories called Optical-Bio Microsystems Laboratory & ConSiM (Concordia Silicon Microfabrication facility). Having spent his entire life dedicated to miniaturizing medical diagnostic tools for healthcare, illnesses and detecting cancer in blood cells. His research has earned him a spot on Canada's most prestigious Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. He is a pioneer in an emerging tech called "lab on a chip" which is creating tiny laboratories on a single tiny chip. He says it will be like bringing the hospital to you.
Learn more about him at his link below.
http://www.concordia.ca/encs/mechanical-industrial/faculty.html?fpid=muthukumaran-packirisamy

So how in the world do they get the electricity from a living organism and contain it for later use like charging your phone or lighting your house, anything really.

Let’s look at how algal create energy.

If you’re right into science and familiar with the intricacies of photosynthesis then this picture below will make complete sense to you. For those like me, all we really need to understand is that for all life on earth to move, function and exist we need to make energy by breaking down sugars. Humans get it from Calories and carbohydrates, which aside from making non-active people (polite way to say lazy but in this area its not always the case) fat it also makes our brain work as much as our blood flow.

What’s really cool is they found a way to capture it. I have always considered energy the soul of all living creatures, now science and technology has found a way to utilize and contain it.

http://www.ecmag.com

“The main concept herein involves trapping these electrons that are released by blue-green algae. The electron transfer chains of photosynthesis and respiration are constructive in harnessing the electrical energy from blue-green algae. This photosynthetic power cell consists of an anode, cathode and proton exchange membrane. The anode chamber consists of cyanobacteria and it releases electrons to the electrode surface from a redox agent that is present at the cathode. An external load is connected to extract the electrons. The fabricated cell could produce an open circuit voltage of 993 mV and a power density of 36.23 µW/cm2….The performance of the power cell can be increased by reducing the electrode spacing between the two electrodes of proton exchange membrane and efficient design of the cell.”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151002103252.htm

This little device goes in the alga culture and collects the energy directly using . Check it out.

It's not yet ready to be commercialized. It can't really power anything significant like phone or iPad but the fact that it will be possible certainly is reassuring isn't it?

This amazing invention has incredible potential in medicine as a source of energy for medical implants like heart pace makers by taking power directly from the blood stream once it’s been ‘nano-ized’, (is that word? Did make that up?) made small enough to fit comfortably inside a human. Nanobots that recharge using the nearest life form could be in the future.

The world can be and will be green. A world where we don’t need to destroy to progress, it won’t be easy but we will do it.

References
http://www.life.illinois.edu/govindjee/photoweb/subjects.html
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151002103252.htm
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/ws-mpp100215.php
http://www.concordia.ca/cunews/main/stories/2015/09/22/major-recognitionformicroresearch.html
please click other images for credits.

---

I hope you found this article interesting and unique..
100% Steem Power FTW!!

任何时候来投票都行 我所有的票数是100％ 倡导可持续发展的未来

Other posts from my Sustainable Future Series.
https://steemit.com/life/@solarguy/prickly-pears-they-ain-t-just-for-eating
https://steemit.com/science/@solarguy/growing-organic-spirulina-at-home
https://steemit.com/science/@solarguy/bio-fuels-for-carbon-capture-using-algae

Please see other posts of my Life in China 请参阅我在中国生活的其他邮件
https://steemit.com/cn/@solarguy/a-truly-haunted-place-i-discovered-in-the-hillside-of-dalian
https://steemit.com/cn/@solarguy/my-trip-into-an-abandoned-defunct-chinese-bomb-shelter
https://steemit.com/life/@solarguy/dalian-china-summer-s-end-canadian-style-bbq-bbq
https://steemit.com/cn/@solarguy/go-topless-and-support-international-women-s-rights-day