Source of Sustained Voltage Difference between the Xylem of a Potted Ficus benjamina Tree and Its Soil

Love, Christopher J.; Zhang, Shuguang; Mershin, Andreas

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002963

Cited by 42 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…With the spring coming, the current goes up gradually to about 30uA, however, the voltage difference goes down to about 550mV in summer. Generally, the current will increase to 40uA after raining or watering because of the wet soil, which supports the idea of reference [4] indirectly. In September and October, the current has up to 40 uA mean value and large standard deviation, the reason is that we polish the copper screw at the Sept.22 and the current increase to about 45 uA and last a month till October 26.…”

Section: B Measurement Results and Analysissupporting

confidence: 71%

“…However, the paper did not clearly explain the observed phenomena and there were still a lot of work to do. A research group of professor Mershin in MIT [4] (2008) tried to explain the mechanism behind the sustained electrical potential (voltage) difference between the xylem of many plants and their surrounding soil. They thought that the sustained voltage difference routinely observed between parts of trees and soil is mainly due to a difference in pH between the two, which is different with the idea of a large portion of the relevant literature about the ''streaming potential'' due to the flow sap.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Study of Bioelectricity on the Trees and Their Applications as Power Sources

Xu¹,

Feng²

2012

2012 Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference

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The paper is intrigued by an Internet circulated report about running electrical circuit entirely off power in trees by the researchers in University of Washington [1]. Today, it is highly desirable to find green, effective and renewable energy resources globally. It is very interested to know that how much the electric potential difference (EPD) on the tree is, and how and where it can be used. The paper is set up for the above questions. Firstly, three kinds of trees, a broad-leaved tree, a coniferous tree and a ginkgo, are chosen to record the bioelectric current and voltage differences every day for one year from December 2010 until November 2011, and the environment humility and temperature are also recorded at same time. From the recorded data, we obtain that: there do exist the voltage difference and bioelectric current in the trees, and the values change with the tree species, monitoring site, environment temperature and humidity. Ginkgo (including root, and trunk) has 600 ~ 800 mV voltage differences and 5 ~30 uA current. A broad-leaved tree has 500 ~ 750 mV voltage differences and 6 ~ 40 uA current. Coniferous tree has 350 ~ 700 mV voltage differences and 3 ~ 20 uA current, which has the smallest electric potential differences among the three kinds of trees. The synthetical analysis results indicate that the broad-leaved tree may be the most suitable tree species for the power source. Secondly, based on the measured bioelectricity data of the trees, the paper explored the technical proposal to harvesting the energy from trees. LTC3588-1 chip of LINEAR TECHNOLOGY in United States is chosen as the energy harvester and a preliminary energy harvesting solution from trees energy sources to power a Microprocessor with a Wireless Transmitter is proposed. Finally, the applications of tree power sources are discussed by three levels. The paper gives a beautiful image with the tree power sources in the near future, wherever you are walking in the street, park , camp or even at wild, only there is a tree, you can open your computer at any time , plug the line into the tree, and begin your work or communication with the outside as long as you like. The trees will provide you endless power.key words: power from trees, bioelectricity on trees, environmental energy harvesting technology

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Section: B Measurement Results and Analysissupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Study of Bioelectricity on the Trees and Their Applications as Power Sources

Xu¹,

Feng²

2012

2012 Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference

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“…The tree model is assumed to comprise only two types of tissues, i.e., xylem and phloem. Values of relative dielectric constant (ε r ) and conductivity (σ) of tree tissues and soil at GSM-900 band are shown in Table 1 [28][29][30]. Geometry of the Bonsai tree along with BSA is shown in Figure 9.…”

Section: Bonsai Tree Simulation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of Em Wave Absorption and Shielding Characteristics for a Bonsai Tree for GSM-900 Band

Ali¹,

Ray²

2014

PIER C

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Abstract-Electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption characteristics for a Bonsai tree are investigated at GSM-900 band. Finite Difference in Time Domain (FDTD) method is hybridized with Friis transmission equation to carry out all the required EM simulations. The tree has been modelled using CT scan based 3D dataset considering different electrical parameters. Maximum local electric (E) field, magnetic (H) field, Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) and Shielding Effectiveness (SE) have been calculated for the tree placing at distance of 5 m away from a radiating Base Station Antenna (BSA) with 20 W input power. The maximum local E field, H field, 1-g SAR and SE obtained by the simulation are found to be 70.1 V/m, 0.09 A/m, 0.135 W/kg and 13.18 dB, respectively. Plants are found to be good natural electromagnetic radiation shield.

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“…Wireless self-powered biosensors can be placed almost anywhere and do not require periodic battery replacement. A vascular plant and two electrodes, one of which is inserted into the trunk, function as a sap-activated battery that can generate on the order of 1 μW of power [1], [2]. In a previous study, we developed a wireless self-powered urinary incontinence sensor [3] containing a urine-activated battery, an intermittent powersupply circuit, and a wireless transmitter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wireless self-powered plant health-monitoring sensor system

et al. 2012

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A self-powered plant-health-monitoring sensor powered by a battery that is activated by the sap of a vascular plant has been developed as an application for wireless biosensor networks. The battery consists of a galvanized iron nail inserted into a tree trunk and a stainless-steel electrode planted in the soil nearby. It outputs on the order of 1 μW of power. An intermittent power supply circuit with a dividedpower-line structure, which separates the power line of a storage capacitor while it is discharging, makes it possible to charge the capacitor with an input power of around 1 μW and to supply power to a wireless transmitter. To verify the effectiveness of the circuit scheme, a prototype sensor was fabricated and tested on a potted pachira tree. The sap-activated battery acted as a current source (3 μA) with an open voltage of 1 V, and the sensor had a 10-mF storage capacitor. This setup enabled the sensor to transmit a signal about every 40 minutes over a distance of 5 m.I.

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Source of Sustained Voltage Difference between the Xylem of a Potted Ficus benjamina Tree and Its Soil

Cited by 42 publications

References 13 publications

The Study of Bioelectricity on the Trees and Their Applications as Power Sources

The Study of Bioelectricity on the Trees and Their Applications as Power Sources

Study of Em Wave Absorption and Shielding Characteristics for a Bonsai Tree for GSM-900 Band

Wireless self-powered plant health-monitoring sensor system

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