In their accompanying paper published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the researchers showed that the new leaf is a marked improvement over more conventional rigid systems.
For example, they found that at a 45-degree angle of incidence to light, the device maintains 47% higher water-splitting efficiency than fixed alternatives. If light strikes the leaf at 90 degrees, the tracking system produces 866% more hydrogen and oxygen fuel.
The leaf was developed using a new fabrication technique to deposit photoactive materials on lightweight plastic instead of glass. They also created an artificial replica of plant cell cytoplasm using hydrogel coatings.