Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 21, 2025
10:19
A CO2 Concentration Gradient Facility for Testing CO2 Enrichment and Soil Effects on Grassland Ecosystem Function
Published on: November 21, 2015
11.6K
Spatially Controlled CO2 Conversion Kinetics in Natural Leaves for Motion Generation
Ambrose A Melvin1,2, Bertrand Goudeau1, Wojciech Nogala2
1University of Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, ISM, UMR5255, ENSCBP, 16 Avenue Pey Berland, 33607, Pessac, France.
Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English)
|June 1, 2022
Summary
Scientists engineered plant leaves to release oxygen via photosynthesis, creating self-propelled micro- and millimeter-scale objects. This biohybrid propulsion system offers controllable motion for artificial devices.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Materials Science
- Microfluidics
Background:
- Living systems like bacteria and sperm exhibit spontaneous directional motion, inspiring artificial mobile objects.
- Previous research utilized natural components for miniaturized dynamic objects, often requiring non-natural building blocks.
- Controlling motion in biohybrid systems remains a key challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential of structurally tailored natural plant leaves for generating autonomous motion.
- To establish a propulsion mechanism based on biologically driven gas release.
- To demonstrate control over the motility of leaf-based micro- and millimeter-scale objects.
Main Methods:
- Precise structural tailoring of natural plant leaves.
- Utilizing photosynthesis for carbon dioxide conversion and oxygen gas release.
- Modulating light intensity and leaf size to control gas evolution rate.
Main Results:
- Spatially predefined and confined release of oxygen gas from tailored leaves was achieved.
- Photosynthesis-driven oxygen release served as the sole driving force for motion.
- Motility of objects ranging from millimeter to micrometer scale was successfully controlled.
Conclusions:
- Natural plant leaves, when precisely structured, can act as self-propelling biohybrid objects.
- Photosynthesis provides a sustainable and controllable mechanism for generating motion in artificial systems.
- This approach offers a novel pathway for designing micro- and nanomachines with tunable locomotion.
Related Concept Videos
01:46The Calvin Benson Cycle
4.8K
Ribulose 1,5- bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCo) is a critical enzyme that catalyzes carbon dioxide assimilation during photosynthesis. However, it is an inefficient enzyme, having an extremely slow catalytic rate. A typical enzyme can process about a thousand molecules per second; however, RuBisCo fixes only around three-carbon dioxides per second. Photosynthetic cells compensate for this slow rate by synthesizing very high amounts of RuBisCo, making it the most abundant single...
4.8K
01:28Carbon-dioxide Fixation
104
Carbon dioxide fixation in prokaryotes enables the assimilation of inorganic carbon into organic molecules, supporting biosynthetic pathways, sustaining ecosystems, and contributing to the global carbon cycle. It also has industrial applications in carbon capture and bioproduct synthesis. Autotrophic organisms rely on this process to utilize CO₂ as a carbon source in diverse environments.The Calvin CycleThe Calvin cycle is the most widespread carbon fixation mechanism, primarily used by...
104
01:27C4 Pathway and CAM
46.3K
Most plants use the C3 pathway for carbon fixation. However, some plants, such as sugar cane, corn, and cacti that grow in hot conditions, use alternative pathways to fix carbon and conserve energy loss due to photorespiration. Photorespiration is the process that occurs when the oxygen concentration is high. Under such conditions, the rubisco enzyme in the Calvin cycle binds O2 instead of CO2, which halts photosynthesis and consumes energy.
C4 Pathway
The C4 pathway is used by plants such as...
C4 Pathway
The C4 pathway is used by plants such as...
46.3K
01:18Neural Control of Respiration
3.0K
The neural regulation of respiration is a meticulously coordinated process primarily controlled by the respiratory centers located within the brainstem. These centers, composed of specialized neurons, transmit nerve impulses that control the contraction and relaxation of our respiratory muscles.
Respiratory Centers in the Brainstem
Two primary areas comprise the respiratory center: the medullary respiratory center in the medulla oblongata and the pontine respiratory group in the pons. The...
Respiratory Centers in the Brainstem
Two primary areas comprise the respiratory center: the medullary respiratory center in the medulla oblongata and the pontine respiratory group in the pons. The...
3.0K
01:05Mechanism of Ciliary Motion
4.0K
The ciliary structures were first seen in 1647 by Antonie Leeuwenhoek while observing the protozoans. In lower organisms, these appendages are responsible for cell movement, while in higher organisms, these appendages help in the movement of the extracellular fluids within the body cavities.
The cilia are made up of microtubules in a 9+2 arrangement, with nine microtubule doublet ring bundles, surrounding a pair of central singlet microtubule bundles. The doublet microtubule bundles are...
The cilia are made up of microtubules in a 9+2 arrangement, with nine microtubule doublet ring bundles, surrounding a pair of central singlet microtubule bundles. The doublet microtubule bundles are...
4.0K
02:04Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata
29.2K
During photosynthesis, plants acquire the necessary carbon dioxide and release the produced oxygen back into the atmosphere. Openings in the epidermis of plant leaves is the site of this exchange of gasses. A single opening is called a stoma—derived from the Greek word for “mouth.” Stomata open and close in response to a variety of environmental cues.
29.2K