Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Energy from Grapes

Posted by michael on from the black-powder-and-alcohol dept.

shpoffo writes "This article at BetterHumans.com talks about harvesting energy from grapes - enough to power small microchips that could be implanted in/attached to plants for monitoring/etc. Seems like it's just a piece of the larger picture emerging..."

2 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So in other words by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 3, Informative

    this is just a glorified potato clock.
    That was my first impression too -- stick copper and zinc wires into a grape and you get electricity -- but that's not what they're doing. The article is light on details, but using a pair of carbon rods (insert Simpsons ref here) they're digesting glucose and collecting a few microwatts as a product.

    +1 Insightful? -1 wet-blanket-in-a-+1-Funny-thread?

    --

  2. Despite all the Matrix jokes... by Pall+Agamemnides · · Score: 2, Informative
    ... this article talks about using this sort of device in humans:

    Capable of producing only about 2.4 microwatts, the biofuel cell could be used to derive power from body fluids. For instance, it could also drive a tiny, autonomous sensor implanted near a wound after surgery to sense fluctuations in body temperature that might signal inflammation and infection.

    It seems like a useful application.