Many viruses may be bad news for humans, but they may be able to greatly improve batteries.
Lithium batteries could have the potential to significantly improve "power per battery weight," which could open new doors in terms of battery-powered devices; including cars, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology news release reported.
The only problem is the batteries need to see some serious improvements before they can achieve their potential. Some of the issues include: "the need to develop better, more durable materials for the batteries' electrodes and improving the number of charging-discharging cycles the batteries can withstand," the news release reported.
The researchers found they could help resolve some of these problems if they introduced genetically modified viruses to tiny nanowires.
The team produce 80-nanometer-thick nanowires (about the width of a red blood cell) using one of these viruses, dubbed M13. The virus can "capture molecules of metals from water and bind them into structural shapes." The virus-created nanowires have spikier surfaces than most kinds, so they have a larger surface area.
"[It's] really similar to how an abalone grows its shell," professor Angela Belcher, said.
This increased surface area could give lithium batteries the advantage of being able to charge and discharge at room temperature using a water-based process, as opposed to conventional methods that are hot and hazardous.
The virus-generated wires also provide a three-dimensional "chain-link-fence-like" structure that gives the electrode better support.
At the end of the process, a tiny bit of metal is used to increase the nanowires' electrical conductivity which allows them to "catalyze reactions that take place during charging and discharging."
These findings could, in theory, contribute to the creation of lithium batteries that can produce two or three times more energy than today's models and that are much more economical.
"This work only looked at the production of one component, the cathode; other essential parts, including the electrolyte -- the ion conductor that lithium ions traverse from one of the battery's electrodes to the other -- require further research to find reliable, durable materials," the news release stated.
