Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses

Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses

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When people get a cold or the flu, they tend to experience a lack of energy. But what if viruses could actually generate energy — not to power your body, but to charge your electronic devices?

That’s the idea behind a new electric generator developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The scientists coated a postage-stamp-sized electrode with specially engineered, harmless viruses that, when tapped, generated enough electricity to power a small LCD display. The scientists, exploiting a principle known as piezoelectricity (the generation of energy through mechanical stress, specifically pressure or vibrations), published their research online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.