Tiny bacteria could potentially charge your cell phone, according to a recent study conducted by Oxford University researchers. A group of scientists from Oxford University collaborated on a project demonstrating how the bacterial movement could be harnessed to assemble and power microscopic ‘windfarms’.
Published in the journal Science Advances, the study utilizes computer simulations to show how the chaotic swarming effect of bacteria, a type of dense active matter can provide a reliable power source.
Energy problems, which are on the gigawatt scale, could, according to co-author Dr. Tyler Shendruk, be addressed on the microscopic level by these tiny biological power plants.
Bacterial suspensions are one example of active fluids that flow spontaneously. Normally, bacterial growth or bloom can be too disordered to extract energy from. When the scientists introduced one rotor in their experiments, it simply didn’t work; it was ‘kicked around’ by bacteria.
However, the Oxford team was able to combat the disorganization by immersing a lattice of 64 symmetric microrotors into this active fluid. The researchers discovered that the bacteria actually spontaneously organized themselves in such a way that neighboring rotors began to spin in opposite directions, similar to a windfarm.
The microscopic turbines didn’t even need to be arranged according to Dr. Shendruk, as the rotors virtually self-assembled into a bacterial windfarm of sorts.
This technology’s value lies in the fact that the biological systems do not need an input power and use their own self-regulating biological processes for locomotion. Understanding Nature’s engines’ has the potential to change how we treat energy creation and consumption in the long-term.