Spinach Power for Integrated Circuits and Fuel Cells

© 1999 by Linda Moulton Howe April 14, 1999  Oak
Ridge, Tennessee - Popeye ate spinach leaves for strength. Now researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee are using microscopic spinach proteins for electronic devices. Spinach leaves are put in a blender and processed down to microscopic proteins called chloroplasts that convert light into chemical energy. The next step is a scientific breakthrough first done by physicist Dr. Elias Greenbaum at the Oak Ridge National Lab. He puts the spinach proteins into a platinum solution to get a metal coating. This marriage between the plant and mineral world could make silicon chips obsolete in another ten years. I asked Dr. Greenbaum why spinach?