We are living in a world facing power outrages and the problem is only going to worsen in the future as our population continues to haunt the resource supplies. The only way for sustainable growth is to develop and fund renewable technologies and discover new methodologies of generating power. One such breakthrough has been made by a team of scientists from the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The team of scientists have discovered a way to generate electricity from mechanical energy using harmful viruses.
Electricity Generation from Harmless Viruses, photo credit: BBC
The team has successfully tested their prototype by generating electricity from viruses and then powering an LCD display. The methodology of generating electricity from mechanical energy through the use of specially engineered viruses is based upon the principal of vibrations and force. The principal works on the piezoelectric properties of matter which convert force into electric charge. The viruses then convert the electrical charge into current which when passes through a closed circuit, generate electrical power.
Scientists have developed stamp size electrodes coated with these specially engineered viruses. Under the action of force, these small electrodes convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. These electrodes can be installed at any location exposed to vibrations and stress such as elevators, stairs, opening and closing of doors and appliances used in our daily life.
The image shows generator developed by US researchers with a postage stamp sized electrodes coated with specially engineered viruses. When a finger is tapped on the surface of an electrode, the viruses convert the force of finger into electrical energy and power the device. A journal with detailed report on virus-based piezoelectric energy generation has been published by nature and can found here
http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nnano.2012.69.html
The following video shows in brief the working principal of virus based piezoelectric energy generator. Please share your comments below if you know anything about this technology that we haven’t covered.