“Eat your spinach,” is a common refrain in childhood, but the green vegetable, chock full of nutrients, doesn’t just provide energy in humans. It also has the potential to help power fuel cells, according to a new study.

In a statement, researchers at the American University’s (AU) Department of Chemistry explained that spinach, when converted from its leafy, edible form into carbon nanosheets, acts as a catalyst for an oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.

An oxygen reduction reaction is one of two reactions in fuel cells and metal-air batteries and is usually the slower one that limits the energy output of these devices.