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Batteries from DNA?

21 March 2022

Batteries from DNA?

At first I thought it was an April Fools’ spoof released prematurely, but apparently not. 

Scientists at the Government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) say they are working on bio-batteries powered by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) which could “change the world and change the way we do things”. 

In something that sounds like a science fiction film plot, the work is a collaborative project with Touchlight Genetics which makes synthetic DNA, the Office of Naval Research Global (ONRG) from the US Department of Defense, and the University of Utah. 

Obviously, the main motive behind the research is for military purposes, but scientists believe the developments could eventually have a role in everyday applications. 

Dstl’s synthetic biology lead Petra Oyston says that battery technology in equipment used by soldiers today contains a lot of energy in chemical format which can explode in combat.

“Our bio-battery is made out of DNA, enzymes, lactate and water. If you shot it, it would just go ‘splat’ so there’s a significant safety benefit.”

She went on to say that this idea was scalable and could take the form of large batteries, batteries too small to see or a completely new format such as a coating.

The concept uses naturally occurring products such as lactate. This is then degraded using enzymes, which release electrons, which are then captured and can be used as power.

The material could also be “dried down” and reconstituted when needed using seawater or freshwater, say scientists involved in the project which started in 2017.

In the past, scientific developments in military and civil programmes have led to new technological advancements being popularly adopted – one need only think of the solar panels and cordless tools spawned by the NASA space programmes. 

So in future, when a manufacturer makes a claim along the lines of product innovation being ‘in our DNA’, it might actually be true. 

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