Manufacturing batteries made from biological viruses

US scientists say they have successfully built a bio-battery battery that is no different from the existing rechargeable batteries on the market. At the same time, this battery can also provide power for many types of small portable machines.

It must be stated that this new type of battery is not using viral genomic structures to generate electricity, but rather using them to create two more ideal positive cathodes, thereby enhancing the performance. of battery.

Angela Belcher, a female scientist currently working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) in charge of the battery research group, said: "The team made high-intensity cathode electrodes to match the The positive electrode was created earlier, making it difficult to produce negative electrode many times the positive electrode, the cause of which is that the cathode electrode must be a fast-paced electrode, and must be able to Good electrical conductivity The actual situation is that most materials for making cathodes are insulators ".

Batteries made from biological viruses

In order to produce a good conductive negative electrode, the team placed viruses on the iron phosphate material, then let the virus take over carbon nanotubes, thereby creating a network of materials. High electrical conductivity.

The virus that researchers use is called bacteriophage, which is a virus capable of transmitting bacteria but is not harmful to the human body, and it also distinguishes to cling to The material has been designated.

Thanks to the treatment of bacteriophage viruses, a carbon nanotubes network was created on the nano-path surface of iron phosphate. The electrons will follow this carbon nanotubes network to penetrate the electrode, quickly turning into electricity.

The team discovered that after adding carbon nanotubes, the weight of the negative electrode did not change significantly, but its electrical conductivity was greatly increased. During the laboratory test, after installing the cathode electrodes with new materials, the charging and discharging speed increased 100 times. Compared to lithium-ion batteries, its charging cycle is a bit shorter, but researchers hope that its life will be longer.

Currently, the original version of this new battery is like the button that we often see. But because the new technology has been applied, the researchers are able to create ultra-light and highly flexible virus batteries capable of meeting different requirements for shape. In addition, the technology to produce this new battery is both economical and environmental protection, because it does not need to use organic solvents, the production materials are not toxic.