FLICKR, CHRIS SORGE
In the quest for tools that would offer finer control of plant physiology, researchers from Linköping University in Sweden have created flexible circuits inside the stems and leaves of rosebush cuttings. The work, published last week (November 20) in Science Advances, may also lead to opportunities to harvest energy from the plants’ natural biochemical processes, according to the report.
The team, led by physicist Magnus Berggren, formed the circuits using a conductive and water-soluble polymer—poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), or PEDOT. The researchers dissolved it in water and then placed a cut rose into the container. The rose took up the PEDOT in its xylem along with water, where the PEDOT then aggregated on its own into wires up to five centimeters long. The material was visible when the ...
