Community | April 06, 2009 | 16 comments

Is That A Virus Powering Your iPod?

source: http://www.crn.com/hardware/216402639

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vistapoint
"The rocket scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with what could be the ultimate in green battery technology—and they built it using viruses that infect bacteria.

The batteries are seen as a future way to power small electronic devices including cell phones and MP3 players as well as, eventually, much larger applications such as those in automobiles. Although the viruses infect bacteria, they are harmless to humans, according to MIT researchers. And being organic, they seem to be the pinnacle of environmentally friendly engineering.

The recent discovery was built upon research performed three years ago, when an MIT team reported that it had genetically engineered viruses that could build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling to form a nanowire. Traditional batteries have two anodes: The positive terminal (often cobalt oxide) and the negative one (graphite).

In the latest work, the team focused on building a highly powerful cathode to pair up with the anode. Because the cathode had to be highly conductive—but typically are made of insulating rather than conductive material—the scientists were faced with a significant challenge. In the end, the viruses were engineered to first coat themselves with iron phosphate, then attach to carbon nanotubes, in order to create a network of highly conductive material.

Lab tests found that batteries with the new cathode material could be charged and discharged at least 100 times without losing any capacitance. Although that is fewer charge cycles than present-day lithium-ion batteries offer, the expectation is they "will be able to go much longer," said team leader, MIT materials scientist Angela Belcher, in a statement.

The prototype is packaged as a typical coin cell battery. However, the technology allows for the assembly of very lightweight, flexible and conformable batteries that can take the shape of their container. "
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16 comments // Is That A Virus Powering Your iPod?

  • Daysaved
  • Valence
  • vistapoint
  • NuclearLullaby
  • ayashe
  • TabulaRasa
  • simplecj
    • 0
      simplecj  

    • OK, wtf?

      We can engineer viruses to do whatever the hell we want, but we still have not yet figured out how to stop aids or cancer?

      I mean, this is incredible and mind blowing for technology, but what if these kinds of resources were focused on the medical field? How many things could we cure? Program an anti-AIDS virus that only destroys AIDS then self destructs when there are no more left.. or anti-cancer viruses... the possibilities are endless!

    • 3 years ago
  • shadyattackk
    • 0
      shadyattackk  
    • simplecj:

      we have cured cancer, well at least from trials and whatnot, just type cure cancer in the search bar on current and it'll pop up, it says aids have been cured to, but i havent read into that much yet,

    • 3 years ago
  • simplecj
  • quixotic12
  • shadyattackk
    • 0
      shadyattackk  
    • simplecj:

      yeah thats true, but there never going to legalize weed, sure it can be used medically, prescribed in some states, but the probability of the government legalizing something that could save there economy is slim to none. So there should be an alternate to curing cancer shouldnt there? Sure pot can literally save the state's economy, but in all seriousness, it'll never get legalized.

    • 3 years ago
  • simplecj
    • 0
      simplecj  
    • simplecj:

      I never said cancer was a virus, only that a virus could plausibly be programmed to destroy cancerous growths.

      I do believe that cannabis will be legalized, there is much more support for it now, especially in the face of our economic troubles. It worked to help end alcohol prohibition. If you consider how much more valuable cannabis is to mankind, it is clearly only a matter of time till support reaches majority levels, if it has not already.

    • 3 years ago
  • Wraak
    • 0
      Wraak  
    • simplecj:

      "what if these kinds of resources were focused on the medical field?"
      I'm sorry, but are you saying that here are more resources being put into virus batteries than there are for trying to cure cancer? Are you oblivious?

    • 3 years ago
  • wirehedd
    • 0
      wirehedd  
    • simplecj:

      Profits come from treatment, not cures.

      Do you really think Big Pharma wants to cure something they can treat?

      A cure is 1 time transaction, therefore, minimal profit whereas treatment is ongoing and HIGHLY profitable.

      Chemotherapies yield almost no results but cost enormous amounts of money. A simple injectable cure would generate almost nothing and the companies would get crucified if they tried to hold back KNOWN cures or tried to limit them to sources of adequate profit (read: the rich).

    • 3 years ago
  • shadyattackk
  • vistapoint
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