Verified Document

Batteries, Including The Rechargeable Ones Research Proposal

Nano particles and nano tubes are on the small scale of a virus, which is why the living organism is crucial for downsizing the materials that are customarily used in portable rechargeable batteries. The new batteries will be more powerful and also prove less taxing on the environment. Manufacturing the virus-assisted batteries will also be more efficient and safer, as no solvents are needed to manipulate them and engineers do not have to use high heat or resort to high-pressure procedures. Instead, only water is necessary. Although prior research has revealed ways to genetically manipulate viruses to create a material suitable for the anode of a battery, the most recent research revealed ways to use viruses for the cathode of the battery too. The first genetic manipulation revealed the potential for the virus to cover itself in nano-particles of iron phosphate. The most recent research showed that this genetic manipulation encouraged the virus to bind with a carbon nanotube and thereby create a highly conductive material useful in battery technology. Soon, researchers should be able to develop a battery that uses highly efficient materials -- not limited to iron phosphate -- that were essentially nano-sized by viruses.

This small change to a virus's genetic code can enhance the efficiency of common batteries. With a genetic manipulation, a virus can be coaxed into cloaking itself in the iron phosphate that is used as conducting material...

That iron phosphate cloak wrapped around the virus can in turn bind to a tiny structure called a carbon nanotube. A nanotube is a tiny tube on the virus's scale of size, one that can actually conduct electricity.
These nano-particles of iron phosphate and nano structures like carbon nanotubes enable smaller and more efficient batteries as well as ones that use fewer toxic chemicals. Moreover, the batteries created with viruses will enable the iron phosphate to be far conductive than it already is in currently commercially available batteries. The key to productivity in portable batteries is size: the smaller the particles of iron phosphate the more conductive the material will be and the more efficient the battery. Without the virus's help, creating smaller particles of conductive material would be difficult if not impossible.

Nanotechnology lets chemical engineers and scientists work on increasingly smaller scales, allowing us to streamline our technologies and make them lighter and more portable. Biological viruses are usually frightening prospects that sap our energy. With just a few gene tweaks, the same type of organism that puts us in bed for a week can power our computers.

Reference

Barazesh, Solmaz. "Viruses Could Power Devices." Science News 175(9). Retrieved April 25, 2009 from http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/42454/title/Viruses_could_power_devices

Sources used in this document:
Reference

Barazesh, Solmaz. "Viruses Could Power Devices." Science News 175(9). Retrieved April 25, 2009 from http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/42454/title/Viruses_could_power_devices
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Batteries Creation Use and Disposal
Words: 1666 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Disposable batteries have transformed the way that we live and the types of activities that we do. The purpose of this discussion is to provide the reader with a natural history of disposable batteries from the time the raw materials are extracted from the earth to the time they are recycled or in a land fill. We will seek to explain the environmental impact that batteries have along the path

Battery Works Battery Also Called
Words: 671 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Each cell inside a battery consists of a liquid, paste or solid "electrolyte," a "positive electrode," and a "negative electrode." The electrolyte is an ionic conductor; one of the electrodes reacts, producing electrons, while the other accepts electrons. When the electrodes are connected to a device to be powered (called a load) an electrical current flows. ("Battery," 2007) As an example, in one cell of a lead-acid battery used in

Impact of Batteries on the Environment
Words: 2156 Length: 8 Document Type: Research Paper

Batteries and the Environment BATTERIES AFFECT ON THE EVIRONMENT A Study of the Impact of Batteries on Waste and the Environment The disposal of batteries can led to negative consequences for human health. There are various types of batteries and most contain some form of a heavy metal that react with chemical electrolytes to produce the battery's power. When batteries are improperly disposed of they can release these metals into the environment and

Lithium Transition Metal Oxides As
Words: 7179 Length: 20 Document Type: Article Review

The energy it stores (?180 Wh kg?1) at an average voltage of 3.8 V is only a factor of 5 higher than that stored by the much older lead -- acid batteries. This may seem poor in the light of Moore's law in electronics (according to which memory capacity doubles every 18 months), but it still took a revolution in materials science to achieve it. Billions of lithium-ion cells

Smoke Detectors in the United
Words: 3420 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

NIST emphasized the requirement for instantaneous reaction to a trigger alarm and demonstrated that individuals trapped in a blazing fire have an average of three minutes from an alarm's first warning to flee. The 17 minutes NIST recorded in its decisive smoke alarm tests in the 1970s is in contrast to the three-minute fleeing window for blazing fires according to said Richard Bukowski, the NIST researcher who carried out

Electronic Hybrid and Patrol Engines Electronic, Hybrid
Words: 1699 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Electronic Hybrid and Patrol Engines ELECTRONIC, HYBRID AND PETROL ENGINES The first auto engine was invented in 1886 by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. Tracing the history of the origin and development of engines, we see that the crucial role in the creation of the car engine played a gasoline internal combustion engine, which remains to this day, a source of power to the vast majority of engines. Analysis of the ways

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now