Novel device can generate electricity from air using bacterial protein: Study

Researchers have developed a new device that uses a natural bacteria-derived protein to create electricity from moisture in the air, an advance that may help produce renewable energy that can work indoors unlike solar and wind-based generators.

The device, described in the journal Nature, is called “Air-gen”, or air-powered generator, and is made using ultrasmall electrically conductive protein wires produced by the microbe Geobacter which was discovered in the mud of the Potomac River in the US more than 30 years ago.

According to the researchers from the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst in the US, Air-gen connects electrodes to the tiny protein wires in such a way that it generates electrical current from water vapour naturally present in the atmosphere. “We are literally making electricity out of thin air.