The researchers have previously designed plants that can detect explosives and communicate that information to a smartphone, as well as plants that can monitor drought conditions. The group’s goal is to engineer plants to take over many of the functions now performed by electrical devices. Plant nanobionics, a new research area pioneered by Strano’s lab, aims to give plants novel features by embedding them with different types of nanoparticles. MIT postdoc Seon-Yeong Kwak is the lead author of the study, which appears in the journal Nano Letters. This technology could also be used to provide low-intensity indoor lighting, or to transform trees into self-powered streetlights, the researchers say. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and the senior author of the study. The light is ultimately powered by the energy metabolism of the plant itself,” says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. “The vision is to make a plant that will function as a desk lamp - a lamp that you don’t have to plug in. They believe that, with further optimization, such plants will one day be bright enough to illuminate a workspace. ![]() By embedding specialized nanoparticles into the leaves of a watercress plant, they induced the plants to give off dim light for nearly four hours. ![]() MIT engineers have taken a critical first step toward making that vision a reality. ![]() Imagine that instead of switching on a lamp when it gets dark, you could read by the light of a glowing plant on your desk.
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