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Scientists have added cadmium to bacteria, causing them to accumulate cadmium sulphide crystals on their surfaces:
Scientists have created bacteria covered in tiny semiconductors that generate a potential fuel source from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water. The so-called "cyborg" bugs produce acetic acid, a chemical that can then be turned into fuel and plastic. In lab experiments, the bacteria proved much more efficient at harvesting sunlight than plants. The work was presented at the American Chemical Society meeting in Washington.
[...] These newly boosted bacteria produce acetic acid, essentially vinegar, from CO2, water and light. They have an efficiency of around 80%, which is four times the level of commercial solar panels, and more than six times the level of chlorophyll.
Also at IEEE.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @03:30PM (4 children)
Not more of that biofuel idiocy.
Biofuels suck in both performance and cost. Proven time and again, no citation needed.
The answer is vehicles that don't burn anything.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @04:33PM (2 children)
Storage batteries have a lower energy density than many fuels, and take a long time to charge. Proven time and again, no citation needed.
Fuel cells don't burn anything.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @09:57PM (1 child)
Right. They create energy from nothing. Pure fucking magic!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 24 2017, @04:22AM
Wrong. They transform chemical energy directly to electrical energy.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 24 2017, @01:13PM
It's still chemical energy and the reaction to generate electricity is the same as burning in an engine. What annoys me about this argument is that it ignores the considerable weight and operational inefficiencies of current electric vehicles. I think we could instead develop a hybrid vehicle running on biofuels that has the strengths of both gas-powered and electric vehicles, using the best technology of each. I think the key problem is designing an engine that can burn fuel at a much hotter temperature than in normal internal combustion engines. Do that, and the rest is already there, including biofuels.