Fabricating genetically engineered high-power lithium-ion batteries using multiple virus genes.
Development of materials that deliver more energy at high rates is important for high-power applications, including portable electronic devices and hybrid electric vehicles. For lithium-ion (Li+) batteries, reducing material dimensions can boost Li+ ion and electron transfer in nanostructured electrodes. By manipulating two genes, we equipped viruses with peptide groups having affinity for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on one end and peptides capable of nucleating amorphous iron phosphate(a-FePO4) fused to the viral major coat protein. The virus clone with the greatest affinity toward SWNTs enabled power performance of a-FePO4 comparable to that of crystalline lithium iron phosphate (c-LiFePO4) and showed excellent capacity retention upon cycling at 1C. This environmentally benign low-temperature biological scaffold could facilitate fabrication of electrodes from materials previously excluded because of extremely low electronic conductivity.
Lee
Yun Jung
YJ
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Yi
Hyunjung
H
Kim
Woo-Jae
WJ
Kang
Kisuk
K
Yun
Dong Soo
DS
Strano
Michael S
MS
Ceder
Gerbrand
G
Belcher
Angela M
AM