They brought freshness to our stagnant lives and homes during the pandemic, and it’s no secret that the houseplant hype hasn’t ended in the years since.

And it’s understandable why. The luscious green leaves of houseplants don’t just look great – they also purify the air in your home, bringing the outside in, which is thought to provide a mood boost and contribute to positive mental health.

What’s not to love?

Recently though, researchers from South China Agricultural University have experimented with houseplants, working on a way to help our green friends even more light to our lives.

That’s right, the research team have literally found a way to make plants glow in the dark, with first author Shuting Liu comparing the phenomenon they created to a beloved movie in a statement:

“Picture the world of Avatar, where glowing plants light up an entire ecosystem. We wanted to make that vision possible using materials we already work with in the lab. Imagine glowing trees replacing streetlights.”

And in their paper, which has recently been published in the journal Matter, the researchers revealed the techniques they used to successfully create glow-in-the dark succulents in such a way that they recharge by day and illuminate their surrounds by night.

By injecting the plants with afterglow phosphor particles, which are used to make toys and home products glow in the dark, the researchers enabled these particles to spread through the plant’s tissues, with the resulting effect being a plant that glowed by night.

And just like glow-in-the-dark toys, the succulents took just a couple of minutes’ sunlight exposure to produce a two-hour long glow after dark, as Liu continued:

“It was really unexpected. The particles diffused in just seconds, and the entire succulent leaf glowed.”

Even more impressively, through their experiments the researchers were able to make the plants glow in green, red and blue, with the team hoping that their developments will pave the future for sustainable lighting particularly suited for a more environmentally-friendly future:

“Each plant takes about 10 minutes to prepare and costs a little over 10 yuan (about $1.40), not including labor. I just find it incredible that an entirely human-made, micro-scale material can come together so seamlessly with the natural structure of a plant. The way they integrate is almost magical. It creates a special kind of functionality.”

Would you switch your night-light for a glow-in-the-dark succulent?

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about why we should be worried about the leak in the bottom of the ocean.