Researchers succeed in creating 'mushrooms that generate electricity' with 3D printers
Electric power is indispensable to modern society, and from the movement concerned about global warming, development of power generation method using renewable energy has been tried all over the world. Meanwhile, American researchers have reported that they succeeded in creating "generating mushrooms" by combining mushrooms and bacteria using 3D printers.
Bacterial Nanobionics via 3D Printing - Nano Letters (ACS Publications)
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02642
Mushrooms plus bacteria equals a new source of electrical | Cosmos
https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/mushrooms-plus-bacteria-equals-a-new-source-of-electrical-energy
'Bionic mushrooms' that generate electricity created by scientists | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/bionic-mushroom-electricity-light-bacteria-graphene-science-research-technology-a8622006.html
The research team led by Professor Manu Mannoor of Stevens Institute of Technology thought that by combining mushrooms and cyanobacteria which are photosynthesis and energy producing bacteria, it would be possible to create a mechanism to generate electricity.
Therefore, the research team used a 3D printer to apply various processing to the bulk of the living mushrooms. First of all, ink containing graphene nanoribbon that gave electrical specialties to graphene, we used a 3D printer to draw a branched pattern like tree branches on a mushroom umbrella. Subsequently, using a bio ink containing cyanobacteria, she seems to draw a helical pattern that intersects the ink of graphene nanoribbon at several points in bulk.
After that the cyanobacteria began to photosynthesize when light was shone on the mushrooms, " photocurrent " generated by the photochemical reaction flowed from the surface of the bacteria and moved through the conductive network of graphene nanoribbons. By encouraging the photosynthesis of cyanobacteria adhered to the bulk of the mushrooms, the research team says we succeeded in generating weak electricity of 65 nanoampere .
The electricity we could make this time is a little, and we can not actually move any electrical equipment. However, the research team thinks that by creating and arranging a large amount of power generating mushrooms, eventually LED light can be lit up.
In addition, this experiment can be said to expand the possibility to utilize the characteristics possessed by bacteria by freely arranging various bacteria using 3D printer. Although cyanobacteria and mushrooms are not in a coexistence life in nature, Mr. Mannoor has demonstrated that combinations using 3D printers can also create live power generation mechanisms.
Mr. Mannoor says, "By combining species that do not exist in real nature, we can create innovative bio-structures," and by looking at the possibilities of microorganisms, It is said that discovery is possible. When cyanobacteria are placed on the bulk of the mushrooms, the mushroom supplies moisture necessary for photosynthesis to the cyanobacteria and extracts 8 times the photocurrent as compared with the case where cyanobacteria of the same density are arranged on ordinary sheets I was able to do it. Also, it seems that merit of cyanobacteria living for several days is also confirmed compared to when placing on ordinary sheets.
"We can explore the existence of rational biological symbiosis by engineering the various microbial communities technically and gain many benefits," the research team says.
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