Nano particles and nano tubes are on the small scale of a virus, which is why the living organism is crucial for downsizing the materials that are customarily used in portable rechargeable batteries. The new batteries will be more powerful and also prove less taxing on the environment. Manufacturing the virus-assisted batteries will also be more efficient and safer, as no solvents are needed to manipulate them and engineers do not have to use high heat or resort to high-pressure procedures. Instead, only water is necessary. Although prior research has revealed ways to genetically manipulate viruses to create a material suitable for the anode of a battery, the most recent research revealed ways to use viruses for the cathode of the battery too. The first genetic manipulation revealed the potential for the virus to cover itself in nano-particles of iron phosphate. The most recent research showed that this genetic manipulation encouraged the virus to bind with a carbon nanotube and thereby create a highly conductive material useful in battery technology. Soon, researchers should be able to develop a battery that uses highly efficient materials -- not limited to iron phosphate -- that were essentially nano-sized by viruses.

This small change to a virus's genetic code can enhance the efficiency of common batteries. With a genetic manipulation, a virus can be coaxed into cloaking itself in the iron phosphate that is used as conducting material...

That iron phosphate cloak wrapped around the virus can in turn bind to a tiny structure called a carbon nanotube. A nanotube is a tiny tube on the virus's scale of size, one that can actually conduct electricity.
These nano-particles of iron phosphate and nano structures like carbon nanotubes enable smaller and more efficient batteries as well as ones that use fewer toxic chemicals. Moreover, the batteries created with viruses will enable the iron phosphate to be far conductive than it already is in currently commercially available batteries. The key to productivity in portable batteries is size: the smaller the particles of iron phosphate the more conductive the material will be and the more efficient the battery. Without the virus's help, creating smaller particles of conductive material would be difficult if not impossible.

Nanotechnology lets chemical engineers and scientists work on increasingly smaller scales, allowing us to streamline our technologies and make them lighter and more portable. Biological viruses are usually frightening prospects that sap our energy. With just a few gene tweaks, the same type of organism that puts us in bed for a week can power our computers.

Reference

Barazesh, Solmaz. "Viruses Could Power Devices." Science News 175(9). Retrieved April 25, 2009 from http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/42454/title/Viruses_could_power_devices