Adding a synthetic polymer to algae has been shown to increase the rate of photosynthesis, which could lead to more efficient biofuels.
If the technique is found to be effective in other plants, it could help us produce more crops. Less than 5 per cent of the sunlight absorbed by any plant is typically converted into energy. To see how we might make that process more efficient, Shu Wang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues fused a light-harvesting polymer with a species of freshwater green algae, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, which is commonly used to produce biofuel.
The researchers grew algae in a watery solution and added a polymer called PBF, which bonded to the surface of the C. pyrenoidosa cells. PBF has a high rate of green light absorption, which led to an increased rate of photosynthesis and the production of more photosynthetic by-products such as oxygen and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which carries energy in a cell.
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The bulk of this experiment was conducted in low-light conditions. The team also tested the effect of brighter light on oxygen production. In the brightest conditions, the number of oxygen molecules produced only increased by 12 per cent.
But under low-light conditions, the hybrid was more effective, leading to the increase of oxygen molecules by 120 per cent and ATP molecules by 97 per cent. The maximum growth rate of the algae also increased by 110 per cent in these conditions. 鈥淭his method is not only applicable to green algae,鈥� says Wang. 鈥淏ut its efficacy in other types of algae and plants has not yet been proven.鈥�
Wang says he plans to test this method with other plants in the future and that he hopes this method will make it far easier to produce more algae, and therefore more biofuels. Yet this may not apply to real -world conditions, says Richard Cogdell at the University of Glasgow in the UK.
鈥淭his fantastic increase in photosynthesis rate is only seen under limited light conditions. It is less impressive under brighter conditions when the algae has reached its light saturation limit.鈥� 鈥淲hat I鈥檇 like to see is for these researchers to set up big ponds of algae, one with and one without this polymer, and really see the difference in efficiency, under normal illumination,鈥� he says.
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