A green future: can plants charge your devices?
September 22, 2025
Imagine this: plant roots that conduct electricity, turning into “living batteries” to power small experimental devices, while the plant keeps growing as usual. Or leaves that, beyond photosynthesis, can be integrated with electronic functions, opening the door to more potential applications.
This is not science fiction, but pioneering research by Senior Associate Professor Eleni Stavrinidou (Linköping University, Sweden) and her team, presented at Horizons 2025 – Materials, AI & Automation, hosted by the VinUni Center for Environmental Intelligence (CEI) in Hanoi.
In the project “Photosynthetic Biohybrid Living Materials and Devices”, the team discovered a polymerization mechanism inside plants, catalyzed by natural enzymes. They showed that plants can polymerize conjugated oligomers (short molecular chains) within their own structures, forming conductive pathways. By developing oligomers that polymerize under physiological conditions, and integrate into the plant cell wall, they added electronic functionality that can be harnessed for small-scale energy storage applications. This breakthrough paves the way for sustainable “living materials”:
- Electronic roots: continuing to grow while acting as biodegradable supercapacitors in research settings.
- Enhanced photosynthesis: polyethyleneimine nanoparticles help plants capture more carbon dioxide, a step forward for agriculture and climate change mitigation.
- Green 3D-printed materials: combining plant components with additive manufacturing to replace synthetic materials, cutting waste and carbon emissions.
Being able to access such groundbreaking research presented in Vietnam provides opportunities to strengthen national science and connect with the global academic community. Horizons 2025 is more than just an international conference; it is a gathering where minds from around the world come together to explore solutions to humanity’s greatest challenges.
What do you think about a future where plants and technology join forces for a sustainable planet?
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