Israel develops method of harvesting electric current from seaweed

The researchers used the seaweed species Ulva, commonly known as sea lettuce, as a new photosynthetic source for electric current, which generates molecules that transfer electrons to an electrode.

Israeli researchers have developed an efficient and environmentally friendly new method of direct current harvesting from seaweed.

In the dark, the seaweed produced an electric current half of that obtained in the light.

This is a method jointly developed by researchers from the Technion Institute of Technology and the Institute of Oceanography and Geology (IOLR).

According to information published on December 28 in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics, researchers have used the species of seaweed Ulva, commonly known as sea lettuce, as a new source of photosynthesis for an electric current, creating molecules that transfer electrons to an electrode.

The technique generates an electric current 1,000 times greater than that produced by cyanobacteria, on par with that obtained with standard solar collector technology.

The new method does not use any chemicals and is considered an environmentally friendly method because seaweed does not emit carbon during the day, and even during growth, the plant has the function of absorbing carbon from atmosphere and release oxygen.

The researchers then built a prototype device that directly collects electricity from the grown Ulva seaweed.

Previously, researchers had developed technology to capture electricity and fuel hydrogen from cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae.

However, the minus point of this method is that the amount of current obtained from cyanobacteria is reduced in the dark because of the absence of photosynthesis.