Innovation in batteries.
What do you get with some mud, poop, chicken wire, sand, salt water, and some cloth? A battery, natch!
Inhabitat » Harvard Scientists Create Dirt Powered Bacteria Batteries:The MFC batteries, which were recently honored as one of Popular Mechanics‘ 10 Most Brilliant Innovations of 2009, were first tested in Tanzania in 2008. The MFC came in the form of a five-pound bucket, and was made up of a graphite- cloth anode, chicken-wire cathode, mud with manure, a layer of sand which acted as an ion barrier and salt water which acted as an electrolyte. All components were hooked up to an electronic power-management board. The charge coming out of the device is strong enough to charge a cell phone or power LED lights.
I'm wondering if we can do poop-cell batteries in our hybrids next? Probably not. But that's a green direction I would like to see stuff like this go. This is really cool!
Inhabitat » Harvard Scientists Create Dirt Powered Bacteria Batteries:The MFC batteries, which were recently honored as one of Popular Mechanics‘ 10 Most Brilliant Innovations of 2009, were first tested in Tanzania in 2008. The MFC came in the form of a five-pound bucket, and was made up of a graphite- cloth anode, chicken-wire cathode, mud with manure, a layer of sand which acted as an ion barrier and salt water which acted as an electrolyte. All components were hooked up to an electronic power-management board. The charge coming out of the device is strong enough to charge a cell phone or power LED lights.
I'm wondering if we can do poop-cell batteries in our hybrids next? Probably not. But that's a green direction I would like to see stuff like this go. This is really cool!