Poor farmers in the countrysides often face the lack of funds to buy fertilizers and crops for their farms. As a result, sometimes they couldn't even carry on their farming business. But a group of researchers have now found a new reasonable innovation which will eventually decrease the farmers' troubles for buying fertilizers. As per a new insight, a new sort of artificial bionic leaf has been invented which can be used as a potential replacement for all types of high priced fertilizers.
According to The Times, the artificial leaf utilizes sunlight as energy to create fertilizer in its own body and it also helps its surrounding plants to grow. Furthermore, it also stimulates the growth rate of its associated trees to a level much higher than their average growth possibility. The researchers' team showcased this by demonstrating a bunch radishes grown up with the support of this bionic leaf. The radishes also accounted about 50% more growth rate than their natural growth rate.
As per a report by Phys Org, the group of scientist from Harvard University first used the artificial leaf to convert the energy driven from sunlight into fuel. For this, firstly the sunlight was used to break water and separate hydrogen and oxygen. Then the hydrogen was driven towards a bacterium which consumed it and also carbon dioxide from the air and later produced fuel in the form of a bioplastic. Then, later the bacterium, while being buried, clinched energy from the fuel to take nitrogen from the atmosphere. Finally, after going through this process a new sort of fertilizer was generated from the bionic leaf.
Daniel Nocera, the lead scientist of the team expected that this bionic leaf, which cost very low in terms of traditional fertilizers, will definitely prove to be useful for forcing down the burden of funds from the shoulders of farmers from those parts of the world where fertilizing stuff costs high enough. The innovation was presented at the annual meet of the American Chemical Society which held recently in San Francisco.