Scientists create energy-producing "bionic mushroom"

A team of researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey created a "bionic mushroom" capable of producing electricity without the use of fossil fuels. The fungus is covered with cyanobacteria, tiny organisms found around the world that turn sunlight into electrical current.

Scientists have long wondered whether cyanobacteria could be exploited as a source of alternative energy, the main obstacle being the impossibility of surviving organisms. artificial surfaces. Mechanical engineers Manu Mannoor and Sudeep Joshi, of the Stevens Institute, realized that fungi already harbored many other forms of microbial life and could therefore provide the right environment (nutrients, moisture, pH, and temperature) for the development of cyanobacteria. [19659002] Engineers attached clusters of cyanobacteria and graphene nanoribbons, printed in 3D, that collect electrical power, on white mushroom caps purchased in a grocery store. The BBC reported that several cyanobacteria – covered fungi, linked together, generated enough electricity to light a small lamp. Scientists published their findings in the journal Nano Letters .

"We are currently using cyanobacteria from the pond, but you can manipulate them genetically … to produce higher photographic currents," said Joshi. the BBC. "It's a new start; we call it artificial symbiosis. If we do more research in this area, we can really move this field forward by putting in place some kind of effective green technology. "