Using nano-coated glass to stimulate the growth of green vegetables

Nano glass will change the light color to blue and red, helping plants photosynthesize easily and grow quickly.

Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) and safety glass manufacturer Singapore Safety Glass (SSG) have partnered to develop nanotechnology-based glass to improve agricultural productivity.

Through testing, the colorless transparent glass used to make greenhouses for growing lettuce, coriander and arugula helped these vegetables grow 3 times faster than normal, and the leaf area was also 40% larger than average.

The NYP research team created a mixture of nanoparticles that can change the color of sunlight to blue and red, making it easier for plants to photosynthesize. The nanoparticles are embedded in a polymer layer integrated into the safety glass.

Mr. Gan Geok Chua - CEO of SSG Group said that the rapid growth of population and climate change in the world will cause food supply to be insufficient in the next 10-20 years. Therefore, the application of technology in agriculture is essential to contribute to solving this problem.

The new glass technology called Nano Glo-n-Grow helps to maximize sunlight without using electricity. Thanks to that, the production cost is much cheaper than the current methods of enhancing plant growth such as using red and blue LED lighting systems.

"We expect to commercialize this invention within 1-3 years after completing research on more efficient materials," Mr. Gan Geok Chua shared.

Hannah Gardner, a senior lecturer at NYP and the project leader, declined to reveal the details of the glass's components, but said the manufacturing process is not too complicated, and the materials are easy to find and cheap, and can be purchased at regular grocery stores.

Researchers grow nanoparticles using chemical reactions and heat. Each particle is between 3 and 20 nanometers in diameter, depending on the purpose of converting the color of light. This is about 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. These tiny particles will convert shorter wavelengths of light or make them bluer.

The project, which involved senior students at NYP, was a research project on new materials science. The team struggled to find the right combination of chemistry and temperature to create the ideal material. However, after 12 weeks of testing, they succeeded in using nano-glass to convert the color of light.

"This method helps students become more creative, giving them more useful knowledge that can be applied in the knowledge economy and clean agriculture in the future," emphasized Dr. Choo Keng Wah - Deputy Director of NYP.

According to VNE