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Synthetic solar cells don’t just grow on tobacco plants. They have to be programmed to grow on tobacco plants. Reprogramming every cell of a mature tobacco plant would be a massive undertaking for human scientists.

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Usually, an infected cell creates new copies of the virus that infected it. This time, the [genetically engineered] virus forces the plant to create artificial chromophores, structures that turn light into high powered electrons.

Like a tightly coiled spiral staircase, individual chromophores are added one at a time until a rod hundreds of nanometers long is created. Each chromophore is two to three nanometers away from their nearest neighbor, an important distance. Even one atom closer to each other, and an electric current would be halted. Any further and harvesting the electrons would be difficult.

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Trapped inside the plant, the tiny structures don’t produce electricity or chemicals. To get at the synthetic chromophores, scientists harvest the plants, chop them up, and extract the structures. Dissolved in a liquid solution, the structures are sprayed over a glass or plastic substrate coated with molecules that secure the rods to the plastic.

Tobacco Plants Tapped to Grow Solar Cells - Discovery News