Thread: Electricity from photosynthesis.

Perhaps we can nano wire plant and algae cell to collect electricity as they convert sunlight to energy. As the atoms move from molecule to molecule perhaps a tiny charge can be captured. Add up the charges and you might get something.

Imo it would be a waste of time... Solar Panels already do that. Just for the sake of conversation however, perhaps instead of having to 'nano wire' photosynthetic organisms... Maybe it would be easier, and maybe more plausible, to find a way to convert the sugars in sap into electric energy? That way you could just tap a tree and install some method to convert the sap?

Bacterial Battery Converts Sugar into Electricity: Scientific American

Do you mean capturing some of the energy in photosynthesis? I think you might be able to catch a few electrons from the Electron Transport Chain in cellular chloroplasts. Although this would be parasitic to the cells as plants acquire glucose from photosynthesis (which doesn't work without those electrons). And without glucose, well... that'll just disrupt the flow of energy consumption in the food chain. The local environment will die out too. But if you just get energy from an isolated group of sources, it still won't work... as plants need that energy to survive, and photosynthesis will mostly stop when the plants die.

I had this thought a number of years ago, differing slightly.

Mixing the dna of electric eels and photosynthetic organisms to create flauna which can charge capicitance plates or batterys near the root system. All grass, trees and material surfaces could fee this giving you 100W /m^2 * efficiency, which on a high surface area plant like a tree or a field of grass would be pretty cool.