Solar Cells Made From Bioluminescent Jellyfish

An anonymous reader writes "Swedish researchers have devised a way to turn bioluminescent jellyfish into solar cells. It works like this: the green fluorescent protein (GFP) that makes the Aequorea victoria glow is simply dripped onto a silicon dioxide substrate between two electrodes. The protein works itself into strands between the electrodes. When ultraviolet light is shined on the circuit, voila, the GFP absorbs photons and emits electrons, generating a current. The GFP-powered cells work like dye-sensitized solar cells, but don't require expensive materials such as titanium dioxide."

Re:output?

[StevenMaurer]

If you'd RTFA, you would have seen this snippet:

The team has so far used a proof-of-concept device to power a clock. The sunlight-to-electricity efficiency of the device is only 0.1 per cent at present, compared with between 10 and 15 per cent for existing dye-sensitised solar cells, however. Screening different algae species to find the most productive electron donor might be one way to produce more juice.

Eventually, algal cells could float out at sea, generating electricity from sunlight and seawater. "We might end up with less efficiency than [conventional] photovoltaics, but we think we can win on cost, and we don't require space where people want to live," says Bombelli.

Of course, making electricity at sea [wikipedia.org] isn't so nearly hard to do as it is to get the electricity to a place where it can be used.

titanium dioxide, really?

[Goldsmith]

Why would you say this? Maybe you meant indium tin oxide, which is expensive... but no, you use that one, but don't mention that in the press release.

It's not likely that someone working with this protein, who has to purchase or make it for several thousand dollars per milligram makes this claim innocently (titanium dioxide is a few cents per gram, and GFP is already one of the most mass produced purified proteins out there, it's not going to get much cheaper anytime soon). Misleading blurbs like this are terrible for science; they propagate falsehoods and direct research funding away from promising sources.