Submitted by: kirkland on Tuesday September 09th, 2003 at 07:51 AM EST

Researchers have found a way of converting sugars into electricity with an efficiency that makes the technique suitable for use in cell phones. Professor Derek Lovley and postdoctoral researcher Swades Chaudhuri, both based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, have discovered a microorganism that is capable of stable, long-term electricity production by oxidizing carbohydrates. The organism, Rhodoferax ferrireducens, transfers electrons directly onto an electrode as it metabolizes sugar into electricity, producing carbon dioxide as a byproduct.

"There’s been a lot of interest in microbial fuel cells trying to covert sugar into electricity," Lovley said. "But in the past, they’ve converted 10 percent or less of the available electrons, and we’re up over 80 percent. And previous attempts to convert carbohydrates to electricity have required an electron shuttle, or mediator, which is typically toxic to humans."

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