I can make battery out of phage?!

Almost at the end of the semester, what are we doing for the rest of the semester?

We are making battery? Wait, battery out of a phage? I can do that?

Having thought of making battery sources as electrical engineering, I never expected to make a battery on my own in this class. Doing something unfamiliar is always scary but at the same time, very interesting. From knowing what components make up a battery, what factors contribute to raising the battery capacity to following each step to build our own cathode, the whole process in Mod 3 was very fascinating and straightforward.

The moment that got me scared and disappointed was the day when we all went to building 13 to observe our nanowire structures using TEM.

All I saw was a bunch of gold nanoparticles… I admit they were pretty to look at but where’s our iron phosphates? And does that mean I failed making my own battery?

Few days after, we went to the Belcher’s lab with our fingers crossed, hoping that our battery works. And when I connected the green LED to our battery, I couldn’t hide my excitement! Yes, it works!!! Wait a minute. It works for three seconds… but yeah it works!!

Although it seemed like Mod 3 was shorter than the other two modules, I definitely gained much sight into how battery is made and am really curious to know how I could have improved my battery capacity. I really want to build my own battery again from beginning to end. 

I want to thank all the 109 instructors as usual for all their support and help and especially want to thank Jifa for all the work he did behind the scene and thank Prof. Belcher for her great inspirations and all the great pictures she took for us. Thank you!!