ChemIONS

Hi friends, I read the intereting blog from heinzmartin, and thought of inviting your attention to another recent bio-inspired research by some motivated chemists..

Have you ever thought of cell phones with virus-based rechargeable batteries?  What do u feel of cell phones which mend their cracks when dropped?   Interesting, isn’t it?    Well, this was the real motivation for Prof.  Angela Belcher and her colleagues from MIT, who developed the first biologically based nano-scale rechargeable battery. 

Belcher is the director of Biomolecular Materials Group at MIT, and her research won MacArthur Foundation award of Genius Grant in 2004.  By bioengineering, Belcher and her colleagues made a virus latch itself to cobalt oxide, making an efficient transparent film, which functions as the nano battery.  In future, this new bio-material could be used as energizing coatings, she hopes.  It’s quite sure that this invention will break new pathways for bio-inspired research in hybrid materials. 

It is interesting to know that Belchers research was inspired by nature, especially by a kind of sea snails called abalones, the shells of which could draw her attention.  She thought deeply about the materials that genetically self-assemble on abalone shells to make them so strong.  An intuition at the time of her doctoral studies made her think about the possibilities of assembling variety of elements to proteins  to make new versatile biomaterials.  She succeeded  in that, and now she focus on making more  efficient biomaterials, and to link the self-assembling properties of bio-molecules with lab-engineered biomaterials and so on..A very interesting pursuit, of real good to nature and technology, isnt it?