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The work taps
into the ability of plants to use sunlight to feed themselves
through photosynthesis, something industrial chemists have
struggled to replicate because sunshine usually generates too
little energy to fuel chemical reactions.
The leaf-inspired micro factory mimics nature's efficiency at
harvesting solar radiation by using new materials called
luminescent solar concentrators with very thin channels through
which liquid is pumped, exposing molecules to sunlight.
"Theoretically, you could use this device to make drug compounds
with solar energy anywhere you want," said lead researcher
Timothy Noel at Eindhoven University of Technology.
By doing away with the need for a power grid, it may be possible
one day to make malaria drugs in the jungle or even medicines on
Mars in some future space colony, he believes.
The device, made from silicone rubber, can operate even when
there is diffuse light, which means it will work under cloudy
skies. However, there is still a way to go to scale up the
process to make it commercially viable.
Noel and his colleagues, who published their research in the
science journal Angewandte Chemie on Wednesday, are now trying
to improve energy efficiency further and increase output.
Because the artificial leaf relies on micro-channels to bring
chemicals into direct contact with sunlight, each unit needs to
be small - but they could be easily linked together to increase
production.
"You can make a whole tree with many, many different leaves
placed in parallel," Noel told Reuters. "These are very cheap
things to make, so there is a lot of potential."
He thinks the process could start to become broadly available to
chemical engineers within five to 10 years.
It is not the first time that scientists have drawn inspiration
from plants when considering novel ways to manufacture
pharmaceuticals.
In 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a drug
called Elelyso from Pfizer and Protalix Biotherapeutics for
Gaucher disease, a rare genetic condition, made with genetically
modified carrot cells.
Other researchers are also cultivating crops that have been
specially bred to produce useful medicines and vaccines in their
leaves.
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