From portable radios to remote controls,
batteries are the cornerstone of our modern society. They are representative of
our modern society for like most trappings of our 21st century
existence they are notoriously wasteful. Comedian Demetri Martin summarized the
life of a battery thusly; they’re either working or their dead. It’s the latter
that most environmentalists, scientists, and Xbox 360 gamers are concerned
with. And so researchers at MIT have been hard at work on a H.G. Wells-ian solution
to this puny power problem. The results may surprise you.
In a project that seems torn from the pages
of a science-fiction novel the MIT researchers revealed in the journal Science that they’ve crafted batteries
from genetically engineered viruses. The results are described as “cheap and
environmentally benign” with a manufacturing process that uses no harmful
solvents operating at room temperature and producing lithium-ion battery that
contains only non-toxic materials.
The premise behind the technology is that
the genetically engineered viruses are used to construct positively and
negatively charged ends of the battery. In contrast, ‘traditional’ lithium-ion
batteries use materials such as graphite and lithium iron phosphate or cobalt
oxide to negatively and positively charge lithium ions (respectively). The
engineered viruses at first replicated this process by coating themselves in
cobalt oxide and gold and then constructing the elements into a nanowire. The
project has since evolved requiring only iron phosphate.
So are these the kind of batteries that
save the environment or are they the kind of batteries that bring about the
long overdue zombie-apocalypse? Well, it’s more likely the former according the
researchers. Since the viruses used are similar to bacteriophage, they only
pose a potential threat to bacteria, not human beings.
A coin cell battery version of the technology
has already been presented to President Obama (because, in addition to running
the United States, he’s also an avid battery enthusiast) and the team of researchers
speculates that commercial production could begin as soon as the 2nd
generation of the technology is developed.
