hidden ingredient in new, greener battery: a virus - lithium iron phosphate battery

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new and more eco-friendly method for the manufacture of lithium batteries.
Their approach uses an unusual component: a genetic engineering virus.
These new batteries have the same energy capacity as other lithium batteries of the same size and show the potential to develop more powerful batteries.
Angela Belcher, an MIT researcher trained in biology, inorganic chemistry and electrical engineering, has long been interested in using natural biological processes to build better technologies.
Belcher began studying batteries a few years ago.
She's looking for an electrode.
Positive and negative batteries at both ends
This will have the correct electrical properties and can be assembled by biological systems.
"We chose iron phosphate because lithium iron phosphate has proven to be a good battery material," Belcher said . ".
"It's also because biology does a great job in these elements.
"Iron and phosphate have been used in many biological systems.
Red blood cells contain iron, and phosphate is an important component of DNA.
In order to make the electrodes, Belcher and her team need to assemble iron and phosphate molecules into brackets.
The biological system Belcher chose to do so is a virus.
The virus she uses is naturally long and thin.
They attract iron and phosphate molecules along their length, forming a hard scaffold.
Belcher's virus can also hold the carbon nano tube tightly, which is thousands of times the length of the pencil point.
Connect the carbon nanotubes to one end of the electrode, allowing electricity to enter and exit the battery.
Belcher and her team published their work in the journal Science.
One benefit of perfecting the biological properties of the battery using the virus is that if Belcher doesn't like any of the properties of the electrode, she just adjusts the DNA of the virus that makes it.
In a sense, she is evolving her virus and the virus is evolving her electrodes so that she can choose the most effective virus.
Once you have enough of these viruses
Combining the electrodes together, you can create a bio-battery that can power the LED lights.
"It's fun and cute to power the green LED, but what about my laptop?
What about my iPhone?
What about my car? " says Belcher.
"Power performance is for us.
It's scale now.
Researchers say it should be feasible to achieve this scale.
Looking for a more streamlined, greener force, "says David Wright," it's going to be a different manufacturing process, but I think there's a good chance that the whole process will expand in industry, "A chemist at the University of Nashville
Wright said the new batteries already have the same performance as those made commercially today.
The researchers hope that later batteries will be used in hybrid cars.
He added that making this bio-cell should consume less energy and produce less pollutants.
"This battery is made of water.
It has no organic solvent and the material is made at room temperature.
"Paul King of the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in gold, Colorado.
Also impressed.
"We all know how important renewable energy is in developing more efficient alternative energy systems," he said . ".
"This is certainly a very promising way.