Cellular batteries: not for your handset, but… cells acting as batteries!
One day we might be able to see microscopic devices, operating on power coming from synthetic cells which work just like a real battery. A research project carried out by Yale University, in fact, is studying the way in which some natural cells generate some small electric voltage.
During the course of these studies, researchers have produced an equally small battery which can convert chemical energy into electric power, with an efficiency percentage ranging around 10%. The synthetic cells that have been produces are made up of a salt solution coated by a thin layer of lipid.
When two of these cells get in contact, a double layer of lipid forms, inside which a modified protein is inserted, which creates microscopic pores through which positive and negative ions are passing. The voltage generated by the passing of ions can be gathered to generate a small electric current.
By inserting ultra thin electrodes inside the salt droplets, cellular batteries are created. A couple of cells undergoing such a treatment can supply energy for up to 10 minutes.
Synthetic batteries can have a level of efficiency twenty times smaller if compared to normal solid state batteries, but their efficiency rate is comparable to that of other devices which generate electricity from light or heat, for example like solar cells.
In the future, cell batteries might be useful in the nanotech field, to supply energy, for example, to memory chips or miniaturized devices. For people like us, working in the miniature technology, it might really be a breakthrough… let’s just wait and see what the future has in store!
