Silk Leaf
Silk Leaf
In a period where global carbon emission and urbanization are growing exponentially the need for creating sustainable solutions for the indoor and outdoor urban environment arise.
Following Melchiorri’s biomimicry approach to bring the efficiency of nature's technologies into the man-made, he
conducted laboratory experimentation in order to make photosynthesizing materials and explore their possible applications.
Silk Leaf is the first outcome of this exploration path. It is the first prototype which introduces the potential impact that photosynthesizing materials could have on our everyday life.
It is made of a biological material mostly composed by silk protein and chloroplasts. Silk Leaf absorbs CO2 and produces oxygen and organic compounds thanks to the photosynthetic ability of the stabilized chloroplasts inside silk protein. Any visible light and water is needed to enable the reaction.
Having the necessity to provide water to the chloroplasts to enable the photosynthesis, another embedded technology to deliver water to the chloroplasts has been introduced, inspired to how natural leafs work.
The water can also remove chemical residues and sugars through osmosis, introducing the idea to collect it for energy generation.
The level of oxygen generation could be optimized depending on many factors, from the material composition to the quantity and efficiency of chloroplasts into silk. Recent scientific publications shows nano-bionic interventions on chloroplasts increasing their photosynthetic efficiency by 49%. This and other research on genetic modification could allow a dramatic improvement of their efficiency.
Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction that involves an organism taking water and CO2 and, with the help of light, turning those compounds into sugars and oxygen.
Due to: 1) the many benefits of Oxygen and CO2 absorption 2) the low energy consumption 3) its modularity, Artificial Leafs could be used in many applications were the level of CO2 are high or Oxygen is needed : inside ventilation systems, free form surface for interiors, together with the lighting, space exploration ...
Julian conceives biological reactive materials to be part of our indoor and urban environment to improve and stimulate our lives being socially and environmentally sustainable.
