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posted by martyb on Saturday February 22 2020, @06:12AM   Printer-friendly
from the Lovley-Geobacter dept.

From Sciencemag

Generating electricity from thin air may sound like science fiction, but a new technology based on nanowire-sprouting bacteria does just that—as long as there's moisture in the air. A new study shows that when fashioned into a film, these wires—protein filaments that ferry electrons away from the bacteria—can produce enough power to light a light-emitting diode. The film works by simply absorbing humidity from the surrounding air. Though researchers aren't sure exactly how these wires work, the tiny power plants pack a punch: Seventeen devices linked together can generate 10 volts, which is enough electricity to power a cellphone.

The new method should be considered a "milestone advance" says Guo Wanlin, a materials scientist at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics who wasn't involved with the work. Guo studies hydrovoltaics, a molecular approach to harvesting electricity from water.

[...] They [...] exposed their device to different levels of humidity. It worked best in air of about 45% humidity, but also in conditions as dry as the Sahara Desert or as humid as New Orleans, the team reports today in Nature. The secret, they say, is that with just the upper side of the film absorbing moisture, a moisture gradient develops, with droplets constantly diffusing in and out of the top. The droplets can dissociate into hydrogen and oxygen ions, causing charges to build up near the top. The difference in charge between the top and bottom of the film causes electrons to flow, Yao explains.

[...] [University of Massachusetts, Amherst microbiologist Derek] Lovley has proposed a way to do that. Growing Geobacter to harvest nanowires is difficult, so Lovley has genetically engineered the easy-to-grow bacterium Escherichia coli to produce nanowires. The E. coli created nanowires of the same diameter and with the same conducting power as Geobacter's, he and his colleagues reported in a November 2019 preprint posted to bioRxiv.

[Note: Yes, the linked article does say that "10 volts, which is enough electricity to power a cell phone." --Ed.]

Journal Reference:
Toshiyuki Ueki, David J.F. Walker, Trevor L. Woodard, Kelly P. Nevin, Stephen S. Nonnenmann, Derek R. Lovley. "An Escherichia coli Chassis for Production of Electrically Conductive Protein Nanowires", bioRxiv (DOI: 10.1101/856302)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @07:38PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @07:38PM (#961136)

    The "AbNorMaLoiDz" don't LIKE being exposed! Shall I also expose MORGELLON's isn't NORMAL @ all too? Ok. It's an ETHYLENE/Boron/Aluminum ARTIFICIAL construct that responds to ELECTRICAL STIMULII & is formed of CHELATED (think of it as galvanization in a way) nano-circuitry metals sheathed in a protective protein coat to mimic living things, like keratin would (wolf in sheep's clothing) to slip through the blood-brain barrier. Those who want you to be DEFECTIVE ABNORMALOIDz (like those downmodding my parent post) dead OR at least as defective damaged good product as they are from their "birth" (might as well have been hatched from a ROTTEN EGG) and they CERTAINLY DO NOT WANT ANY OF WHAT I STATED put out either. All from CHEMTRAILS in nanoparticulate worldwide distribution. All from your favorite "white is bad cut off balls is good" crackpots who are, inferior, and they know it.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @09:23PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @09:23PM (#961169)

    Holy goddamn crazy balls.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @09:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @09:40PM (#961173)

      I read this and then I looked into what was said about morgellons. He's not far off technically for accuracy. For instance, look up "morgellons" and "ethylene" in any search engine. You'll find as I did it is a possibility he is correct. What is crazy is how scary the possibility is.