WASHINGTON: There’s an alternative to fuel as water and bacteria will power the small devices. This engine may not replace the fuel in your Hummer but could be the first step toward bacterial spore and evaporating water-powered devices. Into the bargain, building the engine would only cost $5 in estimate.
In a study published in Tuesday in Nature Communications, researchers at the Columbia University presented several devices powered by the shrinking and swelling of bacterial spores with changes in humidity.
“People before us had shown that the spores change shape in response to the humidity,” Sahin told. “They shrink when they’re dry and expand when exposed to moisture. In our studies, we found them to be rigid and that this shape changes must come with a lot of energy. In the beginning, I was just amazed at this biological substance. I thought, there must be applications for this.”
In his previous studies, scientists Sahin showed the spores are capable of harvesting large quantities of energy from their interaction with water. To make this work, he studied the need to show the energy storage and release in action.
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