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Solar Cells Made From Bioluminescent Jellyfish
An anonymous reader writes "Swedish researchers have devised a way to turn bioluminescent jellyfish into solar cells. It works like this: the green fluorescent protein (GFP) that makes the Aequorea victoria glow is simply dripped onto a silicon dioxide substrate between two electrodes. The protein works itself into strands between the electrodes. When ultraviolet light is shined on the circuit, voila, the GFP absorbs photons and emits electrons, generating a current. The GFP-powered cells work like dye-sensitized solar cells, but don't require expensive materials such as titanium dioxide."
Jellyfish could be using Human Beings to generate power.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Looks like that Spongebob eposide (Jellyfish Jelly on Krabby Paddies) was a PETA pre-emptive strick against this research.
Haven't they played any of the Metroid games? We're all doomed!
C
The Sun is proof that we can't even do fire properly.
np
They also make a great fruit smoothy! Animals in a blender - for SCIENCE!
Now where's my science blender - I feel another Daiquiri discovery coming on.
as it is a wethack.
Being made from jellyfish just makes for even more bad jokes about wethacks.
Blah blah sig blah blah blah irony blah blah
What's the output on these new cells? The article mentioned the efficiency of algae cells but not these bioluminescent cells.
The sea is radioactive
GCS/MU/P d- s:- a-- C++++$ UL++ P+ L++ E+ W++ N o K- w--- O M+ V- PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5- X R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D++ G+ e++ h-
7 pounds worth. But the owner would have to prove he's worth the sacrifice.
It sounds like a sustainable energy source but it's not vegan at all!
Maybe in the future they'll grow giant blobs of it from genetically engineered jellyfish stem cells so you'll have the choice between bio, free range, or GMO solar panels.
It's Peanutbutter Jellyfish time, peanut butter jellyfish time.
I think it's cool research -- self-assembling stuff rocks -- but I'm dubious about their claim of the effectiveness of that particular cost reduction.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
"such as titanium dioxide" but requires exotic Chinese cuisine ingredients????
Such a fuel cell could be used to power nano-devices embedded in living organisms, says Chiragwandi, for example to diagnose disease.
is it just me or is this quote ridiculously buzzword-esque?
or do they really think they have unlocked the key to nanotechnology and cured cancer?
Why would you say this? Maybe you meant indium tin oxide, which is expensive... but no, you use that one, but don't mention that in the press release.
It's not likely that someone working with this protein, who has to purchase or make it for several thousand dollars per milligram makes this claim innocently (titanium dioxide is a few cents per gram, and GFP is already one of the most mass produced purified proteins out there, it's not going to get much cheaper anytime soon). Misleading blurbs like this are terrible for science; they propagate falsehoods and direct research funding away from promising sources.
I have not yet received my opinion assignment document from those we don't speak of, so I am not really sure what I am supposed to think about this. On one tentacle, anything helping to make photovoltaic material affordable is very good. But the other tentacle, harvesting (and likely destroying) scores of jellyfish to do so seems, well, creepy. I think I will need to wait until cable news tells me what to think.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
There is no such thing as new solar cell technology!!!!
Please feel free to refute this fact with an example product.
How many more years will slashdot have an off-by-one error on your Score in your profile?
Does this mean cheap solar cells for the whole world? I'm guessing not.
Anyone know why not?
I care not for your karma and your mod points.
Fluorescent proteins denature over time as they are exposed to light (photobleaching). What will the lifetime of these cells be?
Hey, editor! This is in the wrong section.
Jellyfish, strictly speaking, are software. (Unless you reinforce them with an exoskeleton.)
It's not easy being bioluminescent.
Like it wasn't bad enough these poor creatures spend their entire existence as lowly bags of goo. Now they have to spend half their time fleeing from horrific vertebrates that want to squeeze the life-goo right out of them for no discernible reason. Well, not actually fleeing. Trying to flee. Have you ever seen a jellyfish flee? It's sad. Pathetic really. Very slow. You can't even call it fleeing. It's more like moseying. "The jellyfish are moseying for their lives!" See what I mean? Poor things.
Equine Mammals Are Considerably Smaller
the back seat of a DeLorean?
"When ultraviolet light is shined on the circuit"
Is there such a word as "shined"?
The post tense of shine is shone.
Wasting my breath, I know
> expensive materials such as titanium dioxide
Ummm, you mean common white paint?
Maury
Jellyfish would be spineless overlords. Attack them, and they'll just quiver in fear like, um, jelly.
On the other hand, they'd be a much softer set of leaders than we have today, and they'd provide a more transparent leadership.
Somewhere around half a percent of the Earth itself and 1 percent of soil is titanium, so it isn't exactly rare. There's a large market for titanium dioxide in industrial quantities and it currently costs about $1.50 per pound.
I couldn't find any sources of GFP in industrial quantities (or any industrial uses of it), but looking at the production costs of other recombinant proteins is telling. In 1997, heparinase I production was estimated to cost around $250,000 per pound with capital costs in the tens of millions of dollars for an annual production of only 3 kg. On the other hand, bovine somatotropin is currently produced, and costs about $6.60 per 500 mg dose, which works out to about $6000 per pound.
I'm no expert, but the idea that GFP (a recombinant protein) is cheap and TiO2 (processed dirt) is expensive seems a bit strange to me. Can someone explain?
Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
What is the efficiency of these particular organic solar cells under ordinary solar radiation? What is their lifetime before the organic matter decays?
Man, I gotta get into the titanium dioxide production business if bioluminescent jelly fish are going to be cheaper.
There's gotta be a heck of a profit in there.
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
I wonder if this could also be done with bioluminescent mushrooms such as the Panellus stipticus.
Joe Lencioni | Shifting Pixel
Yet another species to exploit to extinction! Yay!
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You can just cultivate batches of jellyfish cells, you don't need whole, live jellyfish.
In Florida, somebody on a lifeguard staff reached into a cooler and pulled out a coke bottle that looked like it was full of water but was full of water containing a batch of invisible jellyfish stinger cells. He drank it and survived with discomfort.
Anyways you can just grow the shit, you don't need to kill more than probably one jellyfish to get it started, boo hoo if they all die, though. What are you using them for? Biodegradable mosquito nets?
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
Commercial products should not use kill other species to get materials.
Are actually thriving, to the detriment of other species.
They reproduce so fast, and easily, as well as survive a ton of different conditions.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
At $2000 a ton, I'm left wondering how this incredibly ubiquitous material is considered expensive...perhaps someone can describe this to me. From my understanding, the TiO2 is applied using a caustic wash process, again very straightforward. I'm interested in knowing how this is difficult or expensive.