Bug Batteries

News brief

1 min read

MIT materials scientists say they’ve used genetically engineered viruses to construct electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. The viruses, which infect bacteria, were designed to grow amorphous iron phosphate along their surfaces and then bond with carbon nanotubes. The result was a nanoscale structure with charge and discharge rates comparable to those of electrodes in state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries.

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