Virus used to power tiny generator

BBC : Seung-Wuk Lee at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues have built a small generator that consists of a postage stamp–sized electrode coated with specially engineered viruses. When the electrode is tapped by a finger, the viruses convert the mechanical energy of the tap into an electric charge. Unlike the materials used in most piezoelectric devices, the viruses are natural materials that are nontoxic and benign to humans. Also, they self-assemble into sheets, a desirable quality in the field of nanotechnology. Although the power generated by the device amounted to only a quarter of the voltage of a AAA battery, the scientists hope the technique will one day lead to devices powered by such everyday tasks as shutting a door or climbing the stairs. The team’s results were published online 13 May in Nature Nanotechnology.