Water hyacinths and lucky bamboo generated an electrical rhythm which could be harnessed as an eco-friendly energy source, as per the study.Plants seem to have the power to emit an electric potential when they pull water from their roots to nourish their stems and leaves.
This particularly sheds light on the circadian rhythms which allow plants to adapt and cope with changing environmental conditions and their ability to synchronize themselves with predictable changes, for instance the change from day to night. Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur undertook the study depicting plants’ biological potential to produce voltage.
“Our eureka moment was when our first experiments showed it is possible to produce electricity in a cyclic rhythm and the precise linkage between this and the plant’s inherent daily rhythm,” Chakraborty added. “We could exactly pinpoint how this is related to water transpiration and the ions the plant carries via the ascent of sap.”