Arya Gurumukhi wins 2024 science awards for the bionic leaf
After experiencing the 2021 Texas winter storm, high schooler Arya Gurumukhi set out to find a better energy solution.
Inspired by how plants make food from sunlight, she developed the Bionic Leaf, which uses sunlight, water, catalysts, and bacteria to create alcohol-based fuel.
Her work earned major science awards in 2024 and is already making a real-world impact.
Bionic Leaf adopted in South Sudan
The Bionic Leaf copies photosynthesis: sunlight and catalysts split water into hydrogen, then bacteria turn that hydrogen into usable fuel.
Arya improved the process by switching to a more durable catalyst and kept her project open source so others can build on it.
By March 2025, her technology was being used in 15 communities in South Sudan.
As Arya puts it, she wanted to make it so that anyone can use it and improve upon it.