The artificial leaf has the ability to turn sunlight into medicine

The sun is a huge and almost infinite source of energy that we have just started to exploit, while the trees have been the experts to exploit this free energy since they appeared. on the earth.

That inspired researchers at Einhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, to create a promising artificial leaf . Just like a real leaf, this artificial leaf absorbs sunlight and creates a whole new thing, medicine for humans.

The team has been working on this project for some time and introduced its first prototype in 2016. So far, the technology has improved a lot and the researchers say the artificial leaves have beautiful colors. This can be used to make almost any drug.

Taking advantage of the naturally occurring ingredients, these tiny leaves manipulate complex channels with capillary-like paths in real leaves. Sunlight streaming into the solution flowing in artificial leaves will form chemical reactions. Usually this process requires the use of electrical power, raw chemicals or both, but by using sunlight as energy to produce drugs.

Picture 1 of The artificial leaf has the ability to turn sunlight into medicine
Tiny 'electric resistance' leaf.

Scientists think such systems will be used in areas where drugs are scarce and inadequate for drug production. Producing medicine for malaria in forests, where there is no electricity, will be much easier thanks to these scientific advances.

Timothy Noel, who led the research, said there were almost no obstacles to putting this technology into practice, except that it could only be applied during the day in the presence of sunlight. The artificial leaves are fully replicable, wherever the sun is available. Replication is easy and due to its low cost of energy self-sufficiency, they are suitable for use in the production of cost-effective chemicals.

  1. There are artificial leaves that can photosynthesize like real leaves
  2. Harvard University develops artificial photosynthesis bionic leaves with higher efficiency than real leaves