Researchers combine photosynthetic power of spinach with silicon to produce fuel cell

Researchers have combined the photosynthetic power of spinach with silicon to produce an electrical current that could one day be harnessed to produce fuel, charge a battery or run a solar array on a small electrical device. Call it Popeye Power.

The combination of a protein called Photosystem 1 (PS1) and the silicon produces current levels almost 1,000 times higher than putting the protein on various kinds of metals, according to David Cliffel, associate professor of chemistry at Vanderbilt University who published the paper this week in the journal Advanced Materials. Kane Jennings, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Vanderbilt and a collaborator on the project, said he hopes to produce a working prototype within three years.