Researchers in Canada have developed an innovative solar cell which uses bacteria to convert light into energy. The new technology is based on a bacterium called Rhodobacter pylori. With the coated glass acting as an anode at one end of their cell, they generated a current density of 0.686 milliamps per square centimetre—an improvement on the 0.362 achieved by others in the field. By coating the bacteria with a semiconducting substance and incorporating it into a battery cell, they were able to achieve a current density of 0.686 milliamps per square centimetre, which they say is the highest yet achieved by a biogenic solar cell.
Researchers in Canada have developed an innovative solar cell which uses bacteria to convert light into energy. The new technology is based on a bacterium called Rhodobacter pylori. By coating the bacteria with a semiconducting substance and incorporating it into a battery cell, they were able to achieve a current density of 0.686 milliamps per square centimetre, which they say is the highest yet achieved by a biogenic solar cell.