Barley seedlings are grown in eSoil, a black artificial conductive soil. Seedlings grow faster under electrical stimulation. Image: Thor Balkhed

In the early morning of December 26, Beijing time, researchers from Linköping University, a national comprehensive university in Sweden, published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) stating that they have developed a conductive "soil" - eSoil, which can be used For soilless cultivation.

They used eSoil experiments and found that electrical stimulation of the roots of barley seedlings increased the growth rate by an average of 50%.

Compared with traditional mineral wool hydroponic substrates, artificial conductive soil eSoil is made from a mixture of cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer in nature, and conductive polymer PEDOT.

Some studies have tried to promote plant growth by stimulating roots with high voltage, but the conductive soil of the Linköping University research team can greatly reduce energy consumption and avoid the dangers caused by high voltage.

Eleni Stavrinidou, senior associate professor and researcher at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics at Linköping University, said: "While we don't yet know exactly how this technology works and the biological mechanisms involved, we found that seedlings can Process nitrogen more efficiently.”

Stavrinidou believes that the new research results will open the way for further development of hydroponics.

Eleni Stavrinidou (left), researcher and senior associate professor at the Organic Electronics Laboratory of Linköping University, and Alexandra Sandéhn (right), a doctoral student and one of the main authors of the paper An artificial conductive soil eSoil was used to conduct electrical stimulation growth experiments on plants. Image: Thor Balkhed

Hydroponics requires no soil, just water, nutrients, and a substrate to which the roots can cling. This closed system enables water recycling.

Hydroponics can also increase space efficiency through vertical growing. Plants that have been widely used in hydroponics include lettuce, herbs, etc. The aforementioned paper from Linköping University shows that barley seedlings can also be successfully grown using hydroponics, and their growth can be accelerated through electrical stimulation.