We are conscious about our environment and the electronics that harm our environment but most of the electronics we view as green actually come with piezoelectric material of some sort, which according Swiss National Science Foundation contains some amount of lead and other toxic materials. So, to make things really green in the alternative power generation department, a team of bioengineers, led by associate professor Seung-Wuk Lee, at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed a way to generate power from virus, which convert mechanical energy into electricity.
Surprising! The team is using a harmless common virus named M13 bacteriophage, which can be easily genetically engineered and also has piezoelectric properties. The bioengineers boosted the bacteriophage’s electrical output and stacked it with thin film of virus, on squeezing phage or the virus-based generator can turn pressure applied by the tap of a figure into electric charge. The charge produced is about a quarter of an AAA battery’s voltage, which we learn is good enough to operate a small LCD. Now, that’s amazing!
Via: DiscoveryNews
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