May
15
An Engineered Virus Makes Electricity
May 15, 2012 | 2 Comments
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity using the piezoelectric effect, creating a new way to generate electric power.
The milestone could lead to tiny devices that harvest electrical energy from the vibrations of everyday tasks, something that could charge your phone as you walk for example.
Berkley Lab Viurs Electric Piezoelectric Energy Generator
Seung-Wuk Lee, a faculty scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division and a UC Berkeley associate professor of bioengineering and colleagues wondered if a virus studied in labs worldwide offered a better way. The M13 bacteriophage only attacks bacteria and is benign to people. Being a virus, it replicates itself by the millions within hours, so there’s always a steady supply. It’s easy to genetically engineer. And large numbers of the rod-shaped viruses naturally orient themselves into well-ordered films, much the way that chopsticks align themselves in a box.
These are the traits that scientists look for in a nano building block. But the Berkeley Lab researchers first had to determine if the M13 virus is piezoelectric. Lee turned to Ramamoorthy Ramesh, a scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and a professor of materials sciences, engineering, and physics at UC Berkeley, an expert in studying the electrical properties of thin films at the nanoscale. They applied an electrical field to a film of M13 viruses and watched what happened using a special microscope. Helical proteins that coat the viruses twisted and turned in response – a sure sign of the piezoelectric effect at work.
Next, the scientists increased the virus’s piezoelectric strength. They used genetic engineering to add four negatively charged amino acid residues to one end of the helical proteins that coat the virus. These residues increase the charge difference between the proteins’ positive and negative ends, which boosts the voltage of the virus.
The scientists further enhanced the system by stacking films composed of single layers of the virus on top of each other. They found that a stack about 20 layers thick exhibited the strongest piezoelectric effect.
The only thing remaining to do was a demonstration test, so the scientists fabricated a virus-based piezoelectric energy generator. They created the conditions for genetically engineered viruses to spontaneously organize into a multilayered film that measures about one square centimeter. This film was then sandwiched between two gold-plated electrodes, which were connected by wires to a liquid-crystal display.
When pressure is applied to the generator, it produces up to six nanoamperes of current and 400 millivolts of potential. That’s enough current to flash the number “1” on the display, and about a quarter the voltage of a triple A battery.
The scientists tested their approach by creating a larger generator that produces enough current to operate a small liquid-crystal display. It works by tapping a finger on a postage stamp-sized electrode coated with the specially engineered viruses. The viruses convert the force of the finger tap into an electric charge.
Their generator is the first to produce electricity by harnessing the piezoelectric properties of a biological material. Piezoelectricity is the accumulation of a charge in a solid in response to mechanical stress.
The research also points to a simpler and very important insight for making microelectronic devices. That’s because the viruses arrange themselves into an orderly film that enables the generator to work. Self-assembly is a much sought after goal in the finicky world of nanotechnology.
Lee said, “More research is needed, but our work is a promising first step toward the development of personal power generators, actuators for use in nano-devices, and other devices based on viral electronics. We’re now working on ways to improve on this proof-of-principle demonstration. Because the tools of biotechnology enable large-scale production of genetically modified viruses, piezoelectric materials based on viruses could offer a simple route to novel microelectronics in the future.”
The piezoelectric effect has a lot of potential, its been known since 1880. The effect has turned up in crystals, ceramics, bone, proteins, and DNA. It’s already been put to use in simple personal devices like electric cigarette lighters and very high technology scanning probe microscopes that rely on the effect to function. There are more of these simple yet ultra reliable devices about than most folks realize.
Its great to see another route to piezoelectric power and to see the nasty nemesis of humanity, the virus, put to useful work for a change. But the big clue maybe the potential of self assembly, where virus applications could further miniaturize devices and reduce their need for electric power.
Now if they’d just manage to engineer virus to defeat the viruses of the common cold, herpes and AIDS.
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