Conjugated polymer nanoparticles boosting growth and photosynthesis in biohybrid plants

Manuela Ciocca; Mauro Maver; Ciro Allará; Damiano Zanotelli; Soufiane Krik; Antonio Orlando; Thilo Rühle; Sabrina Walz; Theo Figueroa Gonzalez; Giovanna Gentile; Alexandros A. Lavdas; Pietro Ibba; Fabio Trevisan; Zygmunt Milosz; Melanie Timpel; Marco V. Nardi; Andrea Pedrielli; Andrea Gaiardo; Paolo Lugli; Franco Cacialli; Dario Leister; Tanja Mimmo; Luisa Petti

doi:10.1039/D5MH00341E

Conjugated polymer nanoparticles boosting growth and photosynthesis in biohybrid plants

Manuela Ciocca,

*^a Mauro Maver,^b Ciro Allará,

^a Damiano Zanotelli,^c Soufiane Krik,

^a Antonio Orlando,^ad Thilo Rühle,^e Sabrina Walz,^e Theo Figueroa Gonzalez,^e Giovanna Gentile,^af Alexandros A. Lavdas,

^f Pietro Ibba,^a Fabio Trevisan,†^b Zygmunt Milosz,^g Melanie Timpel,

^h Marco V. Nardi,^h Andrea Pedrielli,^d Andrea Gaiardo,^d Paolo Lugli,^a Franco Cacialli,^a Dario Leister,^e Tanja Mimmo^bc and Luisa Petti

^ab

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Faculty of Engineering, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, via Bruno Buozzi 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
E-mail: manuela.ciocca@unibz.it

^b Competence Centre for Plant Health, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Università 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy

^c Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Università 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy

^d Sensors and Devices Center, Bruno Kessler Foundation, via Sommarive, 18, I-38123 Povo (TN), Italy

^e Plant Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, D-82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany

^f Institute for Biomedicine, Eurac Research, via A. Volta 21, 39100 Bolzano, Italy

^g Elettra – Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A, Strada Statale 14 – km 163,5 in AREA Science Park, Trieste, Italy

^h IMEM-CNR Institute of Materials for Electronics and Magnetism, Trento Unit C/o Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Alla Cascata 56/C, Trento, Povo, Italy

Abstract

Engineered nanomaterials integrated into photosynthetic systems could pave the way to new, exciting avenues towards biohybrid systems and renewable energy sources. Here, a biohybrid plant developed through the integration of poly(3-hexylthiophene) nanoparticles (P3HT-NPs) in Arabidopsis thaliana plants is presented. P3HT-NPs were used to enhance plant solar radiation absorption, with a spectrophotometric profile matching chlorophyll absorbance. The P3HT-NP-engineered biohybrid plants showed a 45% increase in root length, corresponding to a relevant enhancement in biomass production of up to 17% compared to the control group. The presented biohybrid plant might open a new route for improving CO₂ capture and oxygen production, underscoring the transformative potential of combining nanomaterials with plant biology, and paving the way for novel biohybrid nano-engineered renewable energy sources.

Materials Horizons

Conjugated polymer nanoparticles boosting growth and photosynthesis in biohybrid plants

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