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DrQuine
Nano rocks! When I was a kid, the headline was "Living potato generates ...
Luis Sanchez
Living virus generates electricity
R Colin Johnson
5/18/2012 10:41 AM EDT
PORTLAND, Ore.—Scientists have discovered a way to genetically engineer a living virus to be piezoelectric, enabling self-assembling arrays of them to produce enough electricity to power small electronic devices. In their demonstration prototype, a button backed with a virus array generated enough electricity to illuminate an LCD display.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories hope to extend their discovery by growing nanoscale arrays of piezoelectric viruses in sheets that generate enough energy to power mobile devices from normal body motions, such as walking, without the need for batteries.
Each virus—technically a bacteriophage—measures just 880 nanometers long by 6.6 nanometers in diameter and is coated with electrically charged proteins that make them piezoelectric. Negatively charged amino acids are then added to one end to make an electrical pole there that boosts the voltage potential enough, when deformed, to power electronic circuits. In practice, stacks of 20 layers of the virus impregnated material were needed to generate enough current to power devices. Gold-plated electrodes, with the virus impregnated sheets in between, created enough energy to power the LCD display from one square centimeter of piezoelectric material—producing about six nanoamperes at 400 millivolts.
Genetically engineered virus has electrical poles at each end that generate a voltage potential when deformed.
Eventually, the living virus electricity generators could be built-into any device that normally vibrates using self-assembly methods that grow the viruses where ever they are needed. The research was performed by Berkeley Lab professor Seung-Wuk Lee and colleagues Ramamoorthy Ramesh and Byung Yang Lee.
Related stories:
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories hope to extend their discovery by growing nanoscale arrays of piezoelectric viruses in sheets that generate enough energy to power mobile devices from normal body motions, such as walking, without the need for batteries.
Each virus—technically a bacteriophage—measures just 880 nanometers long by 6.6 nanometers in diameter and is coated with electrically charged proteins that make them piezoelectric. Negatively charged amino acids are then added to one end to make an electrical pole there that boosts the voltage potential enough, when deformed, to power electronic circuits. In practice, stacks of 20 layers of the virus impregnated material were needed to generate enough current to power devices. Gold-plated electrodes, with the virus impregnated sheets in between, created enough energy to power the LCD display from one square centimeter of piezoelectric material—producing about six nanoamperes at 400 millivolts.
Genetically engineered virus has electrical poles at each end that generate a voltage potential when deformed.
Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Labs
Eventually, the living virus electricity generators could be built-into any device that normally vibrates using self-assembly methods that grow the viruses where ever they are needed. The research was performed by Berkeley Lab professor Seung-Wuk Lee and colleagues Ramamoorthy Ramesh and Byung Yang Lee.
Related stories:
- Nanotube-based solar cells harness viruses
- MIT harnesses virus to power up the hydrogen economy
- MIT harnesses viruses to print 'green' batteries
- Living viruses create flexible battery film
- NSF funds computer virus immunization effort
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Sanjib.Acharya
5/19/2012 2:16 AM EDT
This is an example of real "bug" in electronics! :)
How long do they survive?
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Enzo
5/19/2012 9:03 AM EDT
will this tech replace batteries
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Les_Slater
5/20/2012 5:12 AM EDT
When piezos get small enough it will be possible to directly convert the thermal energy of gas molecules into electricity. A molecule heating such a piezo will bounce back into the gas with a lower energy therefor reducing the temperature of the gas, a direct conversion of thermal energy to electricity.
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Les_Slater
5/20/2012 5:14 AM EDT
That should be a molecule HITTING such a piezo, not HEATING.
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Luis Sanchez
5/20/2012 7:25 AM EDT
This is very good! Now nanotechnology have it's own batteries.
And they can be charged while walking!
It's worth mentioning though, that viruses aren't living organisms, but actually chemical structures that affect the living bacteria or cells.
They reproduce due to chemical principles.
Nevertheless, this is a phenomenal breakthrough! Let's see how long until this finding hits the market in a real product.
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DrQuine
5/22/2012 9:54 PM EDT
Nano rocks! When I was a kid, the headline was "Living potato generates electricity to run clock". I had one. I hope the amps per pound continue to improve and the unwanted mold can be kept at bay.
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