Virus-Based Batteries: Tiny, Flexible, Cheap?

Aug 27th, 2008 | By Premnath Sah | Category: Technology

A virus-ridden computer without a noticeable battery might not sell on Ebay, but that’s exactly what researchers at MIT could build, thanks to a new advance in battery technology.

By pouring a mixture of the harmless, genetically engineered M13 virus and the metal cobalt over stamped silicon film, Angela Belcher and her colleagues created a flexible, microscopic battery that could be cheaply mass produced.

In theory, it could turn virtually any surface — from large computers to tiny implanted detectors for cancer or heart disease — into an energy-storing device.