Plastic sheets coated with an Eu3+ film that converts UV light to red light were able to accelerate the growth of vegetal plants and trees. Scientists developed a europium-based thin-film coating and demonstrated that it accelerates both vegetal plant and tree growth. This technology can improve
Japanese larch tree seedlings were grown without and with the use of a wavelength converting material sheet. Credit: Sunao Shoji et al. Scientific Reports, October 26, 2022film that converts UV light to red light were able to accelerate the growth of vegetal plants and trees.
Trials were performed for both Swiss chard, a vegetal plant, and Japanese larch trees. In summer, when days are long and sun irradiation is strong, no significant difference was observed for Swiss chard when using the WCM films. In winter, however, when days are shorter and sunlight is weaker, Swiss chard plants grown using the WCM films showed 1.2 times greater plant height and 1.4 times greater biomass after 63 days.
Trials involving Japanese larch trees also showed accelerated growth. Seedlings showed a higher relative growth rate in the initial 4 months of growth, resulting in a stem diameter 1.2-fold larger and total biomass 1.4-fold larger than trees grown without the WCM coating. Critically, this enabled the seedlings to reach the standard size for planting in the forestry of Hokkaido within one year.
Sunao Shoji, Yuichi Kitagawa, Yasuchika Hasegawa of the research team. Credit: Photo provided by ICReDD