Virus-Built Batteries

Researchers at MIT have successfully engineered viruses that build the anode and cathode of a lithium-ion battery. This development is interesting because it opens an industrial application of biotechnology. The virus-built batteries can perform on the same level as state-of-the-art rechargeable car batteries, and may be applied to other electronic devices as well. Prominent attributes of this new technology is that manufacture of these batteries is environmentally friendly and inexpensive. The materials are cheap and nontoxic and the batteries are manufactured at room temperature.

The viruses build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling to form a nanowire. The virus that builds the cathode coats itself with iron phospate, and then carbon nanotubes, to create a highly conductive cathode. Iron phosphate nanowires are wired to carbon nanotubes, which creates a highly conductive network that allows electrons to quickly travel and transfer energy between the two electrodes. The batteries can be recharged 100 times without losing capacitance. This is fewer than for currently available lithium-ion batteries, but researchers expect that the virus-built batteries will last much longer.

The viruses used are common bacteriophages, not harmful to humans.

link to article: http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=4027