Increasing greenhouse production by spectral-shifting and unidirectional light-extracting photonics

Lihua Shen; Runnan Lou; Yujin Park; Yuning Guo; Eric J Stallknecht; Yinzi Xiao; David Rieder; Ronggui Yang; Erik S Runkle; Xiaobo Yin

doi:10.1038/s43016-021-00307-8

Increasing greenhouse production by spectral-shifting and unidirectional light-extracting photonics

Nat Food. 2021 Jun;2(6):434-441. doi: 10.1038/s43016-021-00307-8. Epub 2021 Jun 18.

Authors

Lihua Shen¹, Runnan Lou¹, Yujin Park^{2

3}, Yuning Guo¹, Eric J Stallknecht², Yinzi Xiao¹, David Rieder¹, Ronggui Yang^{1

4}, Erik S Runkle², Xiaobo Yin^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
² Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
³ College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ, USA.
⁴ School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. xiaobo.yin@colorado.edu.
⁶ Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. xiaobo.yin@colorado.edu.

PMID: 37118233
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-021-00307-8

Abstract

Improving photosynthesis and light capture increases crop yield and paves a sustainable way to meet the growing global food demand. Here we introduce a spectral-shifting microphotonic thin film as a greenhouse envelope that can be scalably manufactured for augmented photosynthesis. By breaking the intrinsic propagation symmetry of light, the photonic microstructures can extract 89% of the internally generated light and deliver most of that in one direction towards photosynthetic organisms. The microphotonic film augments lettuce production by more than 20% in both indoor facilities with electric lighting and in a greenhouse with natural sunlight, offering the possibility of increasing crop production efficiency in controlled environments.

Abstract

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