Micro battery assembled by virus
posted Aug 20th 2008 1:51pm by Caleb Kraftfiled under: news

MIT researchers have used a viral assembly method to create a battery at half the size of a human cell. They’ve successfully developed the anode and electrolyte, leaving only the cathode unfinished. each electrode is only 4 micrometers in diameter.
The construction process involves taking a rubbery base and creating a pattern of tiny posts through lithography. Then they add different layers of polymers that act as an electrolyte. Finally the virus preferentially self-assembles on top of the polymer creating the anode. Pictured above is a test plate. The battery itself is too small to be seen.
[via BoingBoing]





That’s freakin’ cool, but let’s be honest – how much energy is a tiny little battery like that going to store? How useful can it possibly be? It stands to reason that it will take far more energy than this can produce or store to run a device even small enough to match the form factor of this cell. Kudos on the accomplishment guys, but please get back to something useful with all that time, money, and equipment, like curing cancer or something productive.
Posted at 8:38 pm on Aug 20th, 2008 by M4CGYV3R