Wouldn’t it be awesome if electricity could be generated out of thin air? Well as much of a fantasy as that sounds, it’s not! The Air-gen is a microbe based system that can generate electricity from nothing but the air around it.

The microbe that belongs to the Geobacter genus was found some years ago but how to harness the amazing properties of it have stumped researchers until now. The microbe produces protein nanowires and placing these between two electrodes allows for electricity to be generated. Pretty neat!

This is an amazing discovery but it is limited to what the microbe can produce in nanowire. It’s a very small amount but scientists are working on ways to overcome this and create ways for more material to be produced. Imagine the microbe powered future.