{"id":150929,"date":"2022-11-23T21:23:44","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T03:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/glass-like-shells-of-diatoms-help-turn-light-into-energy-in-dim-conditions"},"modified":"2022-11-23T21:23:44","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T03:23:44","slug":"glass-like-shells-of-diatoms-help-turn-light-into-energy-in-dim-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/glass-like-shells-of-diatoms-help-turn-light-into-energy-in-dim-conditions","title":{"rendered":"Glass-like shells of diatoms help turn light into energy in dim conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KoQmFBEdc4k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A new study has revealed how the glass-like shells of diatoms help these microscopic organisms perform photosynthesis in dim conditions. A better understanding of how these phytoplankton harvest and interact with light could lead to improved solar cells, sensing devices and optical components.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/computational+model\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">computational model<\/a> and toolkit we developed could pave the way toward mass-manufacturable, sustainable optical devices and more efficient <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/light\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">light<\/a> harvesting tools that are based on <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/diatom\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">diatom<\/a> shells,\u201d said research team member Santiago Bernal from McGill University in Canada. \u201cThis could be used for biomimetic devices for sensing, new telecommunications technologies or affordable ways to make clean energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Diatoms are <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/single-celled+organisms\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">single-celled organisms<\/a> found in most bodies of water. Their shells are covered in holes that respond to light differently depending on their size, spacing and configuration. In the journal <i>Optical Materials Express<\/i>, the researchers, led by McGill University\u2019s David V. Plant and Mark Andrews, report the first optical study of an entire diatom shell. They analyzed how different sections of the shell, or frustule, respond to sunlight and how this response is connected to photosynthesis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study has revealed how the glass-like shells of diatoms help these microscopic organisms perform photosynthesis in dim conditions. A better understanding of how these phytoplankton harvest and interact with light could lead to improved solar cells, sensing devices and optical components. \u201cThe computational model and toolkit we developed could pave the way toward [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1523,1633,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computing","category-solar-power","category-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}